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| Montgomery County Courthouse/Photo Carl Hessler Jr. |
Entertainer Bill Cosby’s next appearance in Montgomery
County Court could come Tuesday, March 8 for his preliminary hearing on alleged
sexual assault charges, that is, if the Pennsylvania Superior Court doesn’t
stay the proceedings while it determines if it will consider Cosby’s appeal of
Judge Steven T. O’Neill’s Feb. 3 rulings in the case.
County court officials are waiting anxiously for word from
the state court.
But I have no doubt, after witnessing firsthand how county
officials prepared for Cosby’s initial hearing, that the court system in
Montgomery County is well-prepared for every Cosby appearance that comes in the
future.
Kudos to county court, judicial, sheriff’s and security
officials for successfully handling the two-day criminal court hearing for Cosby
on Feb. 2 and 3. I am sure it wasn’t easy, but officials succeeded in
maintaining decorum inside and outside the courtroom and in balancing their
needs to keep Cosby safe during his entrance and exit from the courthouse and
the needs of the media covering the event.
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| Bill Cosby/Courtesy Montco DA's Office |
It was the highest profile case to ever play out at the
courthouse and special attention was given to all aspects.
“I think it went extremely well. I was very pleased with how
everything worked out. A whole lot of planning went into this, cooperation at
every level,” county Court Administrator Michael R. Kehs said recently as he
reflected on the enormous task of accommodating such a high-profile case.
Court officials worked early on with members of the Pennsylvania
Association of Broadcasters and the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, which
made sure that members of the media, more than 100, had credentials and courtroom passes to get
into the main courtroom and a second courtroom that provided a video feed of
the proceedings. Members of the local media regime, those reporters who are at
the courthouse on a daily basis, had front row seats reserved for them, for
which we were grateful.
Parking passes also were distributed and special parking was
arranged for the news vans and satellite trucks that crammed onto Swede Street.
Only a few pool photographers were permitted inside the
courthouse and outside the main courtroom. Spectators were not permitted to
take photos in the immediate area of the courtroom. There was a designated area
cleared of snow set up outside the courthouse so professional photographers and
videographers could record Cosby’s arrival and exit from the courthouse.
In a special decorum order issued days in advance of the
proceedings, judicial officials laid down the rules, there would be no live
transmissions, such as tweeting and emailing, from the courtroom and reporters
could not leave the courtroom until a break was called.
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| Courtroom A |
Everything appeared to run smoothly and I didn’t hear any
complaints from members of the local or national media. I think the general
philosophy was that if officials gave us what we needed to do our jobs as
reporters then we’d work with officials in any way we could to keep the order
they craved.
“I think the powers-that-be did an amazing job. It was so impressive," gushed Monica
Pokorny, court clerk for Judge Todd Eisenberg. “There was a lot going on at the
courthouse that day and they did wonderful. It was so calm.”
There was no chaos, said Pokorny, a longtime courthouse
employee since 2001, who took time to observe the scene as an intrigued citizen
while she was on her lunch break.
“I couldn’t get to see what I wanted to see because they
were so good,” laughed Pokorny, who admits candidly she would have loved to
have snapped a photo of Cosby while she was on her lunch break and Cosby was
leaving court. “But the deputies had a presence about them that you knew you
weren’t allowed to play around. The familiarity you have with the deputies,
that was all put aside.
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| Court Clerk Monica Pokorny/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr. |
“I wanted to take pictures and the deputy said very nicely,
‘There’s no cameras’ and I didn’t ask questions, and I followed the rules. I was
so impressed with everyone that day,” said Pokorny, turning serious.
Pokorny, like many courthouse workers, did manage to catch a
glimpse of Cosby as he came to court.
“It was really neat to see someone in person and how just
normal they looked, just like a regular person,” said Pokorny.
For a brief period of time, the courthouse became ground
zero for a national news event and the satellite trucks that lined Swede Street
were proof of that.
“If you were in other sections of the courthouse you
wouldn’t have even known what was going on unless you happened to be looking up
and down Swede Street. Then you knew something was going on,” Kehs smiled.
“There was an air of excitement about it, that’s for sure. It
was a big deal and everybody knew it was a big deal. The amount of press and
the size of the trucks, it was amazing. I thought the
local news stations with their little vans would be jealous of the big
satellite trucks,” Pokorny laughed.
But 'Mr. Everybody’s Business' didn’t see any bumper stickers
on small news vans that stated, “My other vehicle is a satellite truck.”
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| News vans crammed every inch of Swede Street/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr. |
Courthouse workers I talked to said members of the media
didn’t interfere with their work and they added everyone from the media was
respectful and kind.
Special thanks to Jeanne Ottinger, the law librarian, who
graciously agreed to keep the courthouse law library open until 5:30 p.m. on
Feb. 2 to accommodate any reporters who needed space to work in a quiet
atmosphere and to have access to wi-fi and electrical outlets while they filed
their stories.
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| The media waits for Cosby to arrive/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr. |
“We were delighted how cooperative the press was. You guys
were phenomenal,” Kehs told me.
“I didn’t want Norristown, the courthouse or press to be the
story. I didn’t want court administration or dealings or problems with the
press to be the story. I wanted the story to be the Cosby matter in the
courtroom, that’s it. I do believe we were successful in that,” Kehs added.
The Cosby hearing was so well-planned that it didn’t
interfere with other courthouse business. In the general vicinity of the Cosby
hearing other judges in other courtrooms presided over a family matter, a civil
medical malpractice jury trial and a sentencing hearing in a homicide by
vehicle case. Another 250 criminal defendants faced arraignments and the
sheriff’s department conducted a deadbeat parent roundup and those defendants
were brought before a judge as the Cosby hearing played out.
“And none of it was disrupted by the Cosby matter. It was
business as usual. That to me was the real indicator of our success, that we
were able to continue to operate and function as a court and manage Cosby at
the same time,” Kehs said.
Montgomery County court officials succeeded in what was a
difficult situation.
A relative newcomer to a high-profile, celebrity trial, the
local court system proved its mettle those two days in February.
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