From Westword (Denver):  Should the trial of Aurora theater shooting gunman James Holmes be televised?

Television station KUSA has asked the judge’s permission to set up a single video camera in the courtroom during Holmes’s trial, which is scheduled to begin December 8. KUSA would share the footage with six other television stations and one radio station. Holmes’s attorneys object to the request, arguing that broadcasting the proceedings could intimidate witnesses, unduly influence jurors and mislead viewers.

Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the July 2012 shooting that left twelve people dead and seventy wounded. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.

In KUSA’s request, attorneys for the station argue that the presence of a TV camera wouldn’t disrupt the proceedings. “It is the petitioner’s experience that a television camera which allows a live feed to be sent outside the courtroom actually reduces the number of media representatives in the courtroom,” they wrote.

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