Return to IndexWHEREAS, Chief Judge Elzie S. Sanders has requested the media to establish a committee to formulate recommendations for a plan for media coverage of this Special Interest/High Profile Proceeding, and
WHEREAS, the media has formed a conunittee which has given its interim report and recommendations for a media plan for the trial proceedings, and
WHEREAS, it is necessary, in cases of great public interest, to balance the needs of the public and media with the provision of ongoing services and functions of the courthouse
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED THAT:
The trial proceedings in Alachua County of State of Florida vs. Danny Harold Rolling are declared to be a Special Interest/High Profile proceeding of great public interest and the following procedures will be implemented:
1. COURT PRESS LIAISON
A. The court appoints as its media liaison, Sherlee NeSmith, who may be contacted at 374-3648 in the Court Administrator's Office.
2. MEDIA COMMITTEE
A. The court will recognize the media through the following committee:
Rick Schneider, News Director
WUFT-TV, Channel 5
Ron Word, Jacksonville Bureau
The Associated Press
Tom Krynski, News Director
WRUF
Curt Pierson, Managing Editor
The Gainesville Sun
Jamie Abdo, Reporter
The Independent Florida Alligator
Carolyn Bower, Assistant State Editor
The Tampa Tribune
B. The Media Committee shall be responsible for:
(1) Providing courthouse credentials to the media. Media room
privileges will be afforded to only those persons so credentialed.
(2) Issuing courtroom passes to the media. Courtroom access will be provided only to those persons the media designates for the day or half-day period.
(3) The media committee is requested to provide the court with the names of the persons who will serve throughout the trial proceedings as pool camera operators and still photographers, in the courtroom and saliport areas.
(4) The media committee will organize and pay for any changes to the media rooms necessitated by their equipment needs. They may make arrangements to share the cost among all media using the facilities.
(5) Arrange for pool feeds to the media area and satellite truck
parking.
3. FOURTH FLOOR
A. The trial will be held in Courtroom 4A. The fourth floor is a restricted area and only those persons who have been given media credentials, courthouse staff, or persons having business on the fourth floor are permitted on the fourth floor.
B. The area outside Courtroom 4A will be monitored by the bailiffs. The only persons allowed access past this point will be those persons having business in the Public Defender's Office, Judge Smith's office or Judge Tomlinson's office.
4. ROOM ALLOCATION
A. The State Attomey shall have exclusive occupancy of the suite of rooms which include rooms 400, 400-A, 401,402,403,404,405,406, and 407.
B. The Public Defender shall have exclusive occupancy of room 414.
C. The broadcast media shall have exclusive use of Courtroom 1B on
the first floor.
D. The print media shall have exclusive use of room 204 on the second
floor.
5. SATELLITE TRUCK PARKING
A. Satellite trucks will be parked in Lot 4, with overflow parking on
Third Street between Second and Third Avenues.
B. Phone service and video feeds will be available in the satellite
parking area.
6. DAILY BRIEFING
A. At the close of each day during the trial there will be an opportunity for the Public Defender, State Attorney or their representative to answer questions for the media. Whether the State Attorney, Public Defender avail themselves of this opportunity is solely at their discretion and convenience. This will take place in Courtroom 1B, which has been designated as the broadcast media room for the duration of the trial.
7. GENERAL RULES
A. There shall be no other cameras or video equipment in use in the
courthouse other than those allowed in Courtroom 1B unless the camera or video
equipment is being used for recording an unrelated event on the second or third floor,
and prior approval has been granted by the presiding judge. No photographing will take place in the hallways on any floor during the Rolling trial.
B. All interviews in the courthouse shall be done in the workrooms
for print or broadcast media. No interviews will be permitted in the hallways, Courtroom 4A or any other area of the courthouse.
C. After the close of court each day the clerk of the court will provide one copy of all documentary evidence, except photographs, to each media room. The media will be responsible for copying and distributing these documents.
D. The stairs on the north and south side of the courthouse between the third and fourth floors are restricted for courthouse staff only.
E. The prisoner elevator is to be used solely for the purpose of carrying prisoners of State, County or Federal correctional facilities or institutions and their guards to the courtrooms.
F. The courthouse will close one hour after the end of the press conference. At that point all media personnel need to vacate the media rooms which will be closed and locked.
G. Should media personnel wish to have the courthouse remain open later than one hour past the end of the press conference, arrangements can be made with the bailiff's office. A bailiff will be provided to keep the room open with 48 hours advance notice and at an hourly rate set by the sheriff's office and compensated by the media.
H. There will be an opportunity for the media to photograph the defendant exiting the van in the saliport area. One still photographer and one video photographer will be allowed in the saliport daily. A pool of two still photographers and two video photographers is to be provided to the bailiff's office for this purpose.
I. There can be no communication between the photographers referred to in section H. above and the defendant. Any communication would jeopardize the opportunity to photograph the defendant in this setting. The defendant can only be photographed above the waist.
J. In case of an emergency of any kind contact the bailiff's station on the first floor at 374-3654.
K. Members of the public who would like seats for the trial or voir dire proceedings are to line up outside the front door of the courthouse. One half hour before the trial begins a courthouse staff person will hand out a seating tag to the number of public to be admitted to the courtroom on a first come, first served basis. (See the Decorum Order for more detail on the number of public seats.) These tags will contain the number of a designated seat in Courtroom 4A. Persons receiving these tags will be checked through the metal detector, permitted access to the fourth floor, and checked into the courtroom to the seat indicated on their seating tag.
L. A seating tag will permit a person to sit through one half day of the trial or voir dire proceedings. Tags will be returned to the bailiff's desk outside courtroom 4A at the noon recess and the end of the court day.
M. No photographing or interviewing of the jury, or of any juror or alternate juror, while in the jury box, in the courtroom, in the jury deliberation room, or during recess, or while going to or from the deliberation room at any time, shall be permitted.
N. All persons entering the courthouse and all personal belongings and
equipment will be passed through the metal detection equipment at the bailiff's station.
O. All persons are prohibited from interfering with the orderly
entrance or exit of persons to or from the courthouse. Only those persons or vehicles so designated may be in the courthouse parking area at the basement level of the courthouse.
P. All clothing that is inflammatory in nature, refers to the defendant or victims by picture or name, or references the death penalty, is strictly prohibited.
Q. Media representatives who make telephonic reports to their agencies should not use the public telephone on the fourth floor to avoid being over-heard by jurors in this case.
R. The chief judge may make any change in this order at any time or
in any manner he finds necessary.
7. IMPLEMENTATION
A. Violation of this order could result the suspension of an individual, or the media organization they represent, from the courthouse for the duration of the trial, or in a finding of Contempt of Court.
DONE AND ORDERED in chambers at Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida, this 14th day of February, A.D., 1994.
Signed\
ELZIE S. SANDERS
CHIEF JUDGE