Criminal Court proceedings are virtual for everyone but the general public

Arraignments and other essential criminal court proceedings take place via video conference, but the general public still has to go to the courthouse if they want to observe. New York Court System via AP

By David Brand

Christopher Ransom, a man charged with felony murder for his alleged role in the death of a Queens police officer, will stand before a video camera inside a Rikers Island jail for his next appearance in Queens Supreme Court Wednesday. 

The judge, Kenneth Holder, will use Skype for Business to preside at the hearing. Prosecutors from the Queens District Attorney’s Office and Ransom’s Legal Aid defense team will argue their cases in front of a laptop, tablet or desktop PC.

But any member of the general public who wants to observe the hearing will have to travel to the Queens Supreme Courthouse, pass through the metal detectors and sit in Holder’s third-floor courtroom, where a video monitor will air the proceedings.

A spokesperson for the Office of Court Administration said the state will not allow members of the public to watch proceedings by video because there is no way to prevent viewers from taking photos, videos or screenshots.

Arraignments went fully remote — for everyone except the general public, court officers and clerks — last month.

But the current set up threatens to expose the general public to the coronavirus if they exercise their right to observe court proceedings, said justice reform advocate Robert Gangi, the director of the Police Reform Organizing Project.

“They force people, if they want to know what’s going on — which they have the right to do — to put themselves in harm’s way of contracting the infection in order to observe these court proceedings,” Gangi said. “That irresponsible and reckless of the system.”

PROP routinely monitors arraignments and compiles data on charges and defendant demographics. But the organization’s volunteers have not visited a courtroom in more than a month because they are practicing social distancing, he said.

He called on the state system to implement a way for the public to observe court without traveling to courthouses and interacting with staff.

“In the interest of accountability, they should make these proceedings available online,” he said.