RENWL

This just in from the Wilshire & Washington blog:  After receiving a flurry of letters for and against the idea, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker is seeking to schedule a hearing next week on whether to allow televised coverage of the Prop 8 trial.

Via his deputy clerk, he sent a e-mail to the various parties today to schedule a hearing for Jan. 6 to consider allowing cameras in the courtroom during the trial, which is scheduled to begin five days later on Jan. 11.

While Ted Olson and David Boies, who seek to overturn Prop 8, favor allowing cameras, along with a coalition of media outlets, including the major networks and the AP, the defendants are against it. Their counsel, Charles Cooper, wrote in a letter to Walker that it may jeopardize the ability to have a fair hearing in that their witnesses fear retribution and harassment — citing the aftermath of the Prop 8 vote. He also said that because such an idea is largely untested in a trial setting, there are not the proper procedures in place.

For the rest read here .  But before you do there’s more:

According to SF Weekly blog The Snitch, Theodore Boutrous, an attorney who is part of the anti-8 legal team,  sent a letter to Judge yesterday urging him to permit TV cameras inside the courtroom. An excerpt posted on The Snitch from the letter says:

“Concerns about ‘the possibility of safety, witness intimidation, and/or harassment of trial participants’ are utterly unsubstantiated and groundless speculation,” Boutrous wrote. “They certainly did not exhibit a similar fear of public attention when attempting to garner votes for Prop. 8 from millions of California voters, when touting their successful campaign strategy in post-election magazine articles and public appearances, or when volunteering in this case.”

Clearly the Prop 8trs know it is to their disadvantage for the trial to be televised. And they’re scared of the possibility. Keep your fingers crossed on this—we smell a defeat already in the makings if this trial is televised. Stay tuned for more developments on this.

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