Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Monica Márquez highlighted “coordinated attacks” on Colorado’s virtual courtrooms during her State of the Judiciary remarks, stressing the need to upgrade the system that has expanded public access to judicial proceedings.
The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition presented its Jean Otto Friend of Freedom Award to Erin McIntyre and Mike Wiggins, owners and co-publishers of the weekly Ouray County Plaindealer since 2019.
Despite a looming inflationary increase in fees, state lawmakers in the 2023 legislative session never addressed the often-high cost of obtaining public records in Colorado but did vote to eliminate some nagging obstacles for users of the Colorado Open Records Act.
There will be no “presumptive” livestreaming of criminal trials and evidentiary hearings in state courts, but judges may allow those proceedings to be broadcast on Webex or another videoconferencing platform after considering several factors, a directive issued by Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Brian Boatright says.
A bill requiring Colorado courts to livestream open criminal court proceedings on Webex or another videoconferencing platform won unanimous approval in the House Judiciary Committee.
A proposed chief justice directive should be revised to allow the livestreaming of criminal trials and evidentiary hearings in Colorado courtrooms and permit virtual access to civil proceedings, the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition and the state’s news associations urged the Colorado Supreme Court.
Colorado’s judicial branch proposed two new chief justice directives on virtual court proceedings and asked the public to comment on them by mid-March.
