NORRISTOWN >> News reporters and digital-only media organizations will face sanctions if they electronically transmit information from entertainer Bill Cosby’s hearing on alleged sex assault charges before court is adjourned, Montgomery County judges ruled in a decorum order.
“The provisions noted as ‘mandatory’ shall be applied by the court and enforced accordingly by its officers and agents,” President Judge William J. Furber Jr. and Administrative Judge Steven T. O’Neill wrote in the order released on Friday.
No electronic transmission, video recording, sound recording or any other electronic duplication of the proceedings of any type will be permitted in Courtroom A, where the Cosby hearing will commence at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 2, or in Courtroom C, a second, satellite courtroom, that will be available for reporters who want to view a video feed of the live proceedings.
While reporters and members of the public may carry cell phones or similar devices into the courtrooms, all devices must be turned off, not merely set to vibrate mode, and “out of sight at all times,” the judges wrote.
Reporters will be permitted to use laptops, tablets or similar devices in the courtrooms but solely for note-taking. Such devices cannot be used during the hearing for electronic based communications and cannot be set to a mode that permits transmission of any form of communication to any person or device either in or out of the courthouse, the judges ruled.
“Use of the Internet or telephone service for transmitting in any way from (the courtrooms) is prohibited,” Furber and O’Neill said.
Reporters and the public will not be permitted to leave the courtrooms until a judge either calls a recess or until the session has ended.
Officials said seating will be available for 63 members of the general public, on a first-come, first-served basis, and 63 reporters in Courtroom A.
“Any person who violates the provisions of this order regarding the use of electronic devices will be subject to the penalties of contempt of court, including fines or summary incarceration…,” the judges wrote.
The decorum order was issued as county court officials prepare for circumstances they’ve never encountered before – a criminal court case involving a high-profile celebrity that has garnered worldwide attention.
William Henry Cosby Jr., as his name appears on charging documents, faces charges of aggravated indecent assault in connection with the alleged sexual assault of former Temple University athletic department employee Andrea Constand at his Cheltenham home between mid-January and mid-February 2004. He is seeking a dismissal of the sex assault charges at the Feb. 2 hearing, claiming he obtained a “non-prosecution” agreement in 2005 from prosecutors.
The decorum order, developed in cooperation with a committee formed by the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters and the Pennsylvania News Media Association, sets restrictions and addresses such things as pool reporting, news media interviews, media parking and credentialing.
It’s not the first time the county’s judges have issued a decorum order.
They implemented decorum standards last year for the first time during pretrial hearings for Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane who is awaiting trial for alleged perjury. Kane’s case has garnered statewide attention.
However, the Cosby proceedings mark the first time that a county criminal case has sparked worldwide attention and so the decorum order issued Friday is much more expansive than it was for the Kane matter.
Similar decorum orders previously were issued by Centre County judges during the 2012 Jerry Sandusky sex abuse trial.
