Personal Communication Devices Rule Change Comments

Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts has submitted comments on the PA Criminal Procedural Rules Committee’s proposed rule changes regarding the use of personal communications devices in the Commonwealth’s courtrooms.  The new rules would respond to different concerns about the use of these devices by jurors and trial spectators by banning them in most settings.
 
For jurors, the new rules would prohibit the use of smartphones in the courtroom or deliberation room. The ban is meant to guard against the "danger that a juror will use the device to conduct independent research during a trial" or to "[reveal] the nature of the deliberations or other information that a juror should not divulge." For trial spectators, the new rules would completely bar the use of smartphones in the courtroom mainly in order to prevent witness intimidation.
 
PMC’s comments applaud the new procedural rules for jurors but question the rules for trial spectators. In particular, we express our concern that the blanket ban “deprives the public of important avenues for following trials and other courtroom proceedings” and argue that “[a]t a minimum… an exception should be made…for credentialed members of the press.” We also remind the Rules Committee that there are less restrictive means of combating witness intimidation, and refute some other rationales advanced in support of the ban.