The Indiana Supreme Court conducted its third annual Law School for Journalists on July 20th. Forty-five television, radio, newspaper and Internet journalists attended the one day “law school” that was held at the Indiana University School of Law–Indianapolis.
Randall T. Shepard, Chief Justice of Indiana, welcomed the journalists with remarks regarding the Indiana Supreme Court and the importance of press coverage of the courts. Madison Superior Court Judge Dennis Carroll and Vanderburgh Superior Court Judge Wayne Trockman presented the plenary session on problem-solving courts, speaking about the role of mental health courts and re-entry courts. Other sessions were dedicated to court structure, funding, juvenile jurisdiction, sentencing, death penalty cases, grand jury proceedings and statistical information maintained by the Supreme Court’s Division of State Court Administration.
The Community Relations Committee of the Judicial Conference of Indiana assisted with planning and recruiting participating judges. Judges who served as faculty were Gail Bardach of Hamilton Superior Court, Mary Beth Bonaventura of Lake Superior Court’s Juvenile Division, Roger Duvall of Scott Circuit Court, Robert Altice of Marion Superior Court, Maria Granger of Floyd Superior Court, Senior Judge Barbara Harcourt , and John Baker of the Indiana Court of Appeals.
Judges also showed their support for the program by the Indiana Judges Association’s co-sponsorship of lunch with the Hoosier State Press Association Foundation. Keynote speaker Jerrianne Hayslett, the former Los Angeles Superior Court Media Liaison, talked about her work with the courts and her book Anatomy of a Trial: Public Loss, Lessons Learned from ‘The People v. O.J. Simpson.’ The Indiana State Bar Association sponsored coffee and breaks throughout the event. At the end of the day, Indiana Supreme Court Justices Steven David and Brent Dickson welcomed the journalists to a “behind-the-scenes” tour of the historic courtroom and law library in the State House. The Times of Northwest Indiana investigative reporter, Marisa Kwiatkowski, summed up the day by saying, “We rarely get the opportunity to attend training sessions anymore because of budget constraints, so this was very much appreciated. It was helpful both to reporters without any background in court coverage and to people like myself, who have experience covering the courts.”