An upstate New York judge whose decision to permit cameras in his criminal courtroom was sharply rebuked this year by an appellate panel said this week he will continue to permit audiovisual coverage of arraignments, sentencings, guilty pleas, bail hearings and any other proceeding that will not include subpoenaed testimony.
Rensselaer County Judge Patrick J. McGrath, speaking Tuesday at a forum sponsored by the Fund for Modern Courts and the New York State Bar Association, noted that �52 of the Civil Rights Law, the statute that generally bans cameras from New York’s trial courts, specifically applies only to proceedings where subpoenaed testimony is taken.
