Bartholomew County’s judges have issued a local rule saying they are banning cell phones and other types of audio and video recording equipment from the courthouse effective Jan. 1, according to a statement from Sheriff Matt Myers.
Exceptions would be the court staff, prosecutor’s office staff, clerk’s staff, court services, law enforcement, Department of Child Services staff and attorneys.
However, the new local rule appears to violate an opinion from Indiana’s Public Access Counselor Luke Britt, who ruled in 2018 that a similar ban in Cass County violated Indiana’s public meetings statute.
Britt ruled that the public policy of Indiana’s Open Door Law is that official action of public agencies be conducted and taken openly, unless otherwise expressly provided by statute, in order that people may be fully informed.
“Simply put, unless an exemption applies, all meetings of the governing bodies of public agencies must be open at all times for the purpose of permitting members of the public to observe and record them,” Britt’s ruling states.
There are public meetings conducted in the Bartholomew County Courthouse, including public meetings in the clerk’s office and in other areas of the building.
“Local ordinances should not usurp Indiana statutes,” Britt ruled. “While the Open Door Law does not specifically state than an individual may use a cell phone to record a meeting, denying a citizen the ability to record a public meeting using their cell phone violates the public policy intentions of the Open Door Law.”
Britt ruled the Cass County commissioners were in violation of the Open Door Law for instituting its cell phone ban in its courthouse.
For more on this story, see Tuesday’s Republic.
