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State police lab examiners could benefit from video system
By NICK WERNER March 30, 2005
nwerner@muncie.gannett.com
MUNCIE - When Delaware County law enforcement authorities need fingerprint, DNA or drug analysis, they turn to the Indiana State Police crime lab in Fort Wayne.
The lab has eight examiners who annually handle about 5,000 cases from 25 counties in northeast Indiana.
Because of their involvement in investigations, the lab team is often called to testify in court, pulling them away from an already heavy workload to travel to various counties.
"We could spend three fourths of a day driving to Muncie to testify just for a half hour," state police Sgt. John Vanderkolk said.
Delaware County officials hope to set up a video conferencing system that would not only connect to state prisons through a statewide network, but also to crime labs, allowing prisoners and police officers to testify in court without being there.
A drug chemist, normally the busiest examiner, will receive about 30 subpoenas a month, Vanderkolk said.
For the majority of these cases, the examiners are not required to testify because the defendant pleads guilty or the court accepts a certificate of analysis as evidence.
A drug chemist will testify up to five times a month on average, Vanderkolk said.
Whenever possible, the examiners submit a video deposition, in which they are interrogated by prosecutors and defense on record. The tape is then shown to the jury.
Courts consider hearing inmates by video feed
By NICK WERNER March 30, 2005
nwerner@muncie.gannett.com
MUNCIE - As Louis Verner's trial date approached, Delaware Circuit Court 2 Judge Richard Dailey grew concerned that the inmate might act out violently while being cross-examined by prosecutors.
Verner pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced in February - without incident - to life in prison. But the thought of a video-conferencing system that would allow inmates to attend court from a jail cell took hold, Dailey said.
The concept gained even more appeal this month when an Atlanta inmate overpowered a deputy on his way to court, stealing her gun and fatally shooting four people.
"Instead of moving chain gangs along judicial corridors, you can keep them in the jail," Dailey said.
Delaware County plans to install a video conferencing system between the jail - on the second and third floors of the justice center - and child support court - across Washington Street in the county building - by the end of the year, Dailey said. Inmates who are participants in a child support hearing would sit in front of a television that displayed the judge. In the meantime, a camera perched on top of the TV, similar to a Web cam, would deliver images of the inmate back across the street to the court through a computer network.
Setting up a system at the child support court would likely cost around $11,000 and be covered through state grants, Dailey said.
Officials also hope to set up camera systems in other Delaware County courts - located on the first floor of the justice center, below the jail - and eventually connect with state prisons. This would not only increase safety, but also reduce costs associated with transporting Department of Correction inmates to court.
The Delaware County Sheriff's Department has two full-time officers specifically designated for inmate transportation.
"You'd like to have those deputies on the road, protecting citizens," Dailey said.
For about a year, the Madison County jail has had a video court system similar to those that Delaware County is researching.
"I think (video conferencing) is a great idea," Sgt. Jennifer Simmons, who regularly transports inmates, said. "It's one of the best things we've had."
Recently Madison County judges conducted video hearings for inmates being held at the Miami, Wabash and Branchville correctional facilities.
And the system keeps deputies from transporting as many as 15 inmates at a time in vans from the jail to the courthouse, two blocks away, for initial hearings.
At least six Hoosier other counties are using video systems and several more are considering the idea, said Zac Cook, director of regional sales for ID Solutions, a Noblesville video-conferencing vendor.
They are most commonly used for bond hearings, arraignments, parole violations and, occasionally, sentencings, Cook said. Trials are allowed by video, but are rare.
"Inmates like it because it actually speeds up due process," he said.
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