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16th Judicial Circuit Camera committee to get public input

A committee studying whether to allow cameras and electronic media into courtrooms in the 16th Judicial Circuit wants to get the opinions of residents and the media itself.

The committee will listen to comments and accept written letters at 2 p.m. May 2 at the Kane County Judicial Center, 37W777 Route 38, St. Charles.

A meeting room has not been determined.

Robert Spence, chief judge of the 16th Judicial Circuit, which includes Kane, Kendall and DeKalb counties, appointed a committee to study the issue after the state’s Supreme Court earlier this year decided to allow cameras in Illinois courtrooms on a circuit-by-circuit, experimental basis.

“We felt that for us to make a decision from our point of view would be narrow-minded,” said Kendall County Judge Timothy McCann, the chairman of the committee, which also includes public defenders, prosecutors, judges and attorneys from throughout the counties in the circuit.

The committee has met once so far and Spence will have the final say on any recommendation.

“We are very early on in our process,” McCann said. “Judge Spence did not set a time frame and the committee has not set a time frame either. Hopefully on May 2 we can get some input on moving this forward.”

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