Waiting for a court hearing can be about as entertaining as watching paint dry. Take it from me, a law clerk who has spent many hours of downtime in the courtroom. But now we can't play a game of "Angry Birds" anymore to pass the time. As of Wednesday, November 9th, the D.C. Superior Court has adopted a new regulation prohibiting the use of cell phones, laptops, tablets, and other electronic devices in the courtroom.

Administrative Order 11-17 comes from concerns that advancing technologies enable video or audio recording and photography on small, undetectable devices. Cameras and video equipment were already forbidden from the courtroom for some time.

The rule exempts certain people including members of the D.C. Bar, law enforcement, and other officers in court on official business; people who are representing themselves in court and members of the media may apply for exemption with the presiding judge. If you are not exempt from this rule, you will be made to turn off your device and store it someplace where it is not visible before you can enter the courtroom.

Please contact Price Benowitz LLP for a free consultation. We also have offices in maryland and Virginia, so please visit our Manassas criminal lawyer and Wicomico criminal lawyer sites for information on our offices in those States.

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Yesterday, the Supreme Court took the New Orleans prosecutor's office to task during an oral argument in Smith v. Cain for what one justice said was a long history of accusations that the office has blatantly ignored the right of defendants to be provided with exculpatory evidence before trial pursuant to the landmark ruling in Brady v. Maryland, which has been on the books since 1963.

The problem is that the Court is not willing to do anything beyond scold. Just last term, in Connick v. Thompson, the Court reversed a $14 million civil rights judgment against the same office for doing the same thing in a different case. The justices don't seem to get that at this point there are no true consequences for failure to turn over exculpatory evidence.

Here's how the system currently works. Someone is charged with a crime. The government withholds evidence that shows that the person didn't do it.

Continue reading "Put Up or Shut Up" »