Pa court house filming laws

Hello...

my friend Josh and a few other idiots are going to court for being idiots and skateing at this school, their being fined a few hundred I think, and I was thinking about being their with the camera in the back, not fuckin around though, trying to be professional, I think it would be a good idea to do it, but I duno if im able to...any advice? I might call the court house to find out, but I wanna know how HGF feels....

thanks!
-ryan

I'd call ahead of time and be really polite. They'd probably have no problem with it, but I remember hearing something about cameras not being allowed in court rooms for certain cases? Isn't that why you always see sketches?

I don't really know, I was never clear on that.

yeah I think your right

but im gonan be in that court room anyways, I might pocket a recorder for the final video, and I got a few good artists, they might drawl me a few good illustrations, like THPS Wasteland style...thats a good idea...but im still gonna try though for the camera in the court

-ryan

Hmmmmh.... I think that at least in finland court session are "public places" and obviusly newsworthy so I think It should be k... but I dunno. And I think though it would be legal they still would deny it, I mean who honorable judge would want to appear on HG stuff?

I really doubt theyll let you film in a courthouse...but I'll let dgodlewski confirm that.

I checked with some of the sheriff deputies I know that are in the courts and they said if its of public record you can legally film the court appearance. But there is a catch: all the parties involved must be 18 years of age. If they are not, the case is considered not public record because juvenile courts are closed to the public and the files are sealed due to privacy issues of you not being an adult. Also, the judge has the ultimate decision if you can have a camera in his courtroom, and being your a bunch of teenagers and not a reputable news source Id say your chances of the judge allowing it is slim to none, and slim left town 12 hours ago.

(But it never hurts to ask, maybe you will get a very liberal judge who decides to let you under certain conditions, the worst they can say is no).

You are smart. Welcome to HGF.

I <3 dgodlewski