It鈥檚 getting easier to find a seat in the main courtroom. On Day 3 of the theater shooting trial, media outlets are starting to pull their reporters one by one. Which means more spots are opening up. The international outlets left after the first day. Many of the national outlets didn鈥檛 broadcast much about opening statements because bigger news like the Baltimore riots stole the air time. There will be some stubborn reporter types who will cover the trial for the entire summer 鈥� every day. We鈥檙e all going to get to know each other very well.聽
We are not supposed to be approaching the dozens of victims and their families at all 鈥� and we learned what can happen to us today. One poor reporter got called before the judge at the very end of today鈥檚 proceedings. He is from Yahoo! and I forgot his name. But it must have been really humbling to be brought before the judge for violating the rules.聽 This guy was admonished for approaching a victim鈥檚 lawyer in the courthouse. The victim was Marcus Weaver, and he had just testified about the death of his friend, Rebecca Wingo. Weaver has been one of the most outspoken victims in the trial, so I imagine the shamed reporter figured it was okay to approach him.
End of story, he apologized, the judge accepted and all seems well for now.聽 Truth is, I suspect each one of us was 聽secretly relieved we weren鈥檛 the ones being called up before eight attorneys, intimidating sheriff鈥檚 deputies and the judge. And James Holmes鈥� parents. And whatever victims hadn鈥檛 cleared out for the day.
Things could change in the yawning days of summer when there鈥檚 not much coverage at all.
Other rules: no drinks with a logo on the cup. No cellphones or computers in the courtroom. We are all in there old school with pen and notepad. Just like the good old days.
Carol McKinley is a producer with ABC News working with CU News Corps students at the trial.