Last Sunday (Sept. 16) I went off to run some errands, do some work at the rent house, see a movie and perhaps take the kids to Apex to ride their bikes. I left the court's cell phone on the nightstand and didn't think much of it. The court is closed on Sunday and I didn't figure it would matter if I was away from the phone. We returned to the house late, and when I checked the phone there were 18 messages, 11 texts and an urgent email from the boss. Orenthal James Simpson had been arrested and his case was expected in court Monday morning.
As the person responsible for coordinating media coverage of trials for the court, I have a plan for high profile court events. It involves communication with security, the judges and employees, and coordination with outside agencies. I reviewed the plan, working past midnight, and arrived at the courthouse early Monday morning, around 6:30 a.m. Good thing I did. By the time I arrived, the majority of 17 satellite trucks were parked around the building, broadcasters were reporting live for the west coast morning show feeds and my phone was buzzing.
At the Clark County Courts I am the Public Information Officer. I don't have an assistant, no one answers the phone but me and for the most part I work alone. It's a solitary existence until something big happens. When that happens, I rely on a lot of friends to help.
Monday I needed a lot of help from those friends. First there was the question of when Mr. Simpson would make his first appearance in court. Judges review all cases first as they come in, so I knew the defendant wouldn't be in on Monday; the judge just looks at the charging documents and decides if there is probable cause. The first appearance for a defendant is the 72-Hour Hearing, or Arraignment in the Justice Court. If a defendant isn't charged within 72-Hours, he walks. Also in this case, Chief Judge Douglas Smith had placed Mr. Simpson on a No-Bail Hold, which meant he wouldn't be eligible for bail until Wednesday.
By mid-morning I had met with at least 25 journalists and more people were calling. For two hours straight my phone just buzzed. For every call there were three others that went to voice mail. During my briefing at 8:30 a.m. on the 8th floor of the Regional Justice Center, Steph with Fox News introduced himself and said, "I'm with Greta Van Susterin." I thought, sure I understand you work with her. He noticed my indifference and followed up with, "No, I'm with her and want to introduce you to her!" I realized my error and shook hands with Greta, who stepped out of his shadow and greeted me warmly.
During a court leadership planning meeting at 10 a.m., Steve Grierson volunteered his assistant Amanda to help me. Boy, was that a relief! She started taking my calls, created a call log, and began relaying to me the most important messages. For the other calls she either answered their questions or promised them I would call them back. This helped me in unmeasurable ways and cut that buzzing phone from constant to every few minutes.
At some point I gave up trying to manage where all the satellite and microwave trucks were parking around the courthouse. I figured if they parked on the sidewalk, I'd worry. Otherwise, they were on their own. Merle Jensen, Las Vegas City Parking Enforcement, would get to deal with violators in her sweet time. Many of the trucks started getting tickets for parking in red and white loading zones. NBC eventually moved their two trucks to the metered parking and their spot in the white zone was immediately taken by CNN.
During the 10 a.m. meeting, I concluded we needed to explain court procedure -- too many journalists understood California's system but didn't know much about Nevada's courts. A few judges had already touched the case, so we concluded we needed to find a judge that didn't know anything about the case. There is a possibility of showing bias, and while our court system allows a judge to comment on cases, it must be a judge that knows nothing about the case they are commenting on.
Judge Nancy Oesterle agreed at the very last minute to serve as a spokesperson for the courts. She lamented later about wearing white after Labor Day, but she did just what I needed her to do; place credibility on the process and not show bias. She answered questions about procedure and did an excellent job of showing that the court would conduct itself professionally. Some critics felt she shouldn't have talked to the media, in particular Mark Geragos, but from an education standpoint she did an excellent job of sharing her 17 years of experience and added credibility to the process.
The national news shows started asking for interviews, which required some planning and consideration. I will detail this later this week, but it required the court to walk carefully and maintain adherence to Judicial Canons and procedures to avoid bias. Monday evening, Judge Oesterle appeared on The Abrams Report and immediately Dan Abrams attempted to move Judge Oesterle away from explaining procedure and into offering opinion about the defendant. After Dan Abrams, Judge Oesterle appeared on Greta Van Susterin's show, where she was allowed to stick to explaining procedure.
After those interviews, I worked on updating my plan and finally adding to my blog, www.lvcourtsblog.com, with new information and placed some common information on it. It took me until 8 p.m. to update everything and then I went home. Darla thought I had been placed in the cell with Mr. Simpson! I worked a bit more, ate some dinner and tried to relax. I didn't sleep very well and was back at work again by 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
Tuesday was a day of rest. At least the number of calls diminished, but everyone was preparing for Wednesday. There was a meeting with the media to plan the television pool and print photography. The national media embraced the meeting and quickly volunteered to set up the cable runs and television camera. We agreed to use a first floor courtroom close to the street to allow the media to connect to the feed. I began preparing for Wednesday by meeting with security, the judges and key employees.
Tomorrow:
Mr. Simpson's Day in Court
Tuesday:
Why Have a Media Judge?
Wednesday:
Apologizing for Bad Behavior
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Wow. This is a case study in itself.
Yes, I think so too. I should probably expand on some things, so perhaps this will take all week. Wait until I explain why I felt an apology was needed and why a lot of my colleagues think I shouldn’t have done it.