Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cellphones banned in federal court

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 00:03:02 -0500

Ok, who is going to know if the cellphone has picture capability? Especially if it is a
separate attachment. Nextel's phone have a separate attachment.
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Posted on Mon, Dec. 16, 2002

Cellphones banned in federal court

By Toni Heinzl
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH - The new cellular phones capable of taking digital photographs have federal
marshals so worried about
potential security breaches at the federal courthouse that they have banned cellphones
from the building effective Jan.
1.

Federal prosecutors and public defenders will be exempt as well as "employees of agencies
housed in the courthouse
and other designated federal employees." But private lawyers and courthouse visitors will
be turned away if they try to
enter with cellphones.

Private lawyers say the ban will prevent them from receiving important text messages from
their investigators and staff
during a trial.

"I think that's horrible," defense attorney Wes Ball said about the phone ban. "It seems
to me like they're throwing the
baby out with the bath water."

Ball said he keeps his cellphone on vibrate during trials in case an investigator needs to
send him an urgent message
that has bearing on the trial.

"That policy will disrupt my ability to defend my clients," Ball said.

Once the ban takes effect, Ball said he will bring a roll of quarters for the public pay
phones in the courthouse hallways
and ask for more recesses during a trial to check on the status of work assigned to his
investigators and office staff.

Defense attorney Doug Greene questions the exemption given to lawyers working for the
federal government.

"It's tough on the private practitioners," Greene said. "It would be a nice gesture to the
private bar if they provided a
conference room where we could use the phone."

Federal marshals in charge of security at the U.S. Courthouse, at 501 West 10th St., say
they constantly review security
measures and devised the cellphone ban after consulting with the federal judges.

"When we became more acutely aware of the cellphones' ability to take pictures, we were
concerned about
photographing courtroom procedures, security features and personnel," Chief Deputy U.S.
Marshal Tony Odom of Dallas
said.

It's a preventive measure, Odom emphasized, saying that he was not aware of any security
breaches involving a
cellphone camera here or elsewhere.

Cellphone bans are spreading across the 94 federal districts nationwide, Odom said.

Fort Worth's policy is similar to one that has been in place for a few years in Dallas on
the federal courtroom floors at
the Earle Cabell Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse.

In Dallas, visitors on the courtroom floors are asked to leave their phones with the
security officers stationed at the
metal detectors next to the elevators. The officers stick notes with the owner's names on
the phones to avoid mixups.

Cellphones are not banned throughout the 16-story Cabell building because the marshals are
only in charge of the four
floors housing the federal courtrooms and offices, Odom said.

Federal judges said their support of the cellphone ban has nothing to do with the
occasional disruptions prompted by
loud and annoying rings during hearings.

"The ringing of phones in the courtroom is annoying but not reason enough to ban them,"
U.S. District Judge Terry
Means of Fort Worth said. "We were told by the marshals in charge of our security that it
was a needed improvement,
and I said OK."

Last week, Means said he made a spectator leave his courtroom when that person's ringing
cellphone interrupted
testimony in a criminal trial.

"The ring of the phone kept getting louder," Means said.

Chief U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish of Dallas said the restrictions have worked out
well.

"A court proceeding is a solemn, deliberative process, and anything that interferes with
this would be disruptive," Fish
said.

Asked why it was not possible to allow people to check their cellphones with the security
officers at the metal detector
near the courthouse entrance in Fort Worth, as is the practice in Dallas, officials here
said it would be too cumbersome.

"We're not in the business of checking in cellphones," Assistant Chief Deputy U.S.
Marshall Jesse Guzman said. "We're
responsible for security at the building. I don't have 10 people to check in cellphones."

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/4749884.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

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