21st century technology pleases the court

It took good old-fashioned police work to get Melinda Raisch's case to court.

But when lawyers present evidence from the 22-year-old murder at trial in the spring, it will be in a courtroom laced with 21st century technology.

The courtroom on the eighth floor of the Johnson County Courthouse provides litigants with the latest in high-tech tools to present their cases.

“It's absolutely huge,” lawyer Craig O'Dear said, referring to the difference that the courtroom technology makes. “The setup is first class. … All you need to do is walk in with a laptop with all of your documents scanned and you're ready to go.”

O'Dear, of the law firm Bryan Cave, has been a pioneer in using computer technology to catalog exhibits and documents for trial presentation. But after trying cases in about 30 states, he said the Johnson County courtroom is the first he has seen where attorneys can try an entirely paperless case without bringing in their own equipment.

Johnson County District Judge Steve Leben is the primary judge to use the courtroom and is the most familiar with the system.

Feedback from lawyers and jurors has been very positive, Leben said.

The system's most visible features are the 13 monitors throughout the courtroom. From the podium in the center of the courtroom, a lawyer can display a document on the high-resolution, digital-document camera that resembles an old-fashioned overhead projector.

Everyone in the room — including the witness on the stand, the judge, attorneys, jurors and courtroom spectators — can see the same thing.

Seven of the monitors are placed in the 14-seat jury box, and a 50-inch screen lets the public follow along. The monitors in the jury box are positioned so that jurors can see the witness stand.

If a witness is asked to point out a particular feature on the exhibit, he has only to touch the screen in front of him and every other monitor in the room reflects what the witness has pointed to. Another touch of the screen clears all the monitors.

Photographs and even three-dimensional objects can similarly be displayed.

From the podium and from their respective tables, attorneys can also display information from their laptops.

All of this comes with a high-quality sound system.

From his bench, Leben can control which monitors are on. He can black out the monitors in the jury box, for instance, if a particular exhibit has not been admitted yet.

For attorneys with a large amount of exhibits, the system saves time, and that translates into a financial saving for clients.

In the traditional trial setting, lawyers go through the time-consuming process of thumbing through files to find an exhibit, then walk around the courtroom to hand copies to the other lawyer, the judge and the witness.

“What used to take up to a couple of minutes can now be done in seven seconds,” O'Dear said. “You can cut two days off a two-week trial.”

The courtroom is also designed to accommodate persons with disabilities. The podium can be raised or lowered with the push of a button to make all of its technological features accessible to a person in a wheelchair.

Leben is planning a January seminar to familiarize attorneys with the setup.

For lawyers like O'Dear, who embrace the benefits of the new technology, it provides a powerful tool in what he calls the “battle of persuasion.”

“It doesn't win the case for you,” he said. “But it's a tremendous communication tool. Communication is what it's all about in the courtroom.”

To reach Tony Rizzo,

Johnson County courts reporter, call (816) 234-7713 or send e-mail to trizzo@kcstar.com.