Franklin County Courthouse completed a multi-phase renovation to their historic facilities in Chambersburg, PA. They called upon the expertise of Martin Gruen to design technology for the four refurbished courtrooms. Gruen is Deputy Director for Courtroom 21 at Virginia's William and Mary Law School.

The County’s decision to use Martin Gruen's thirty years of experience was fortified by the mission of Courtroom 21, a state-of-the-art educational courtroom designed to prepare students for case presentation in a high-tech environment.

Like Courtroom 21, Franklin County sought to present multiple remote witnesses, electronic evidence presentations, and legal process automation. Courtroom 21 increases community accessibility with language interpretation and assistant listening technologies. SAGE Technology Solutions was chosen to implement these goals at the Franklin County Courthouse. Once contracted, SAGE worked closely with Martin Gruen to configure and optimize the project.

SAGE Delivers

The touch control panels manage the entire Audio/Visual System with customized graphical user interface (GUI) screens. These panels are designed to seamlessly integrate the A/V Systems into the normal flow of court proceedings with minimal interruption.

All controls are designed to appear on one primary screen. When a video source is selected, controls for that source appear in the center window of this screen, allowing all functional controls to remain visible simultaneously. The judge’s and clerk’s panels are able to pre-select destinations for video display, preview, and queue the video before sending images out. Because the GUI screens were built with the operation of the court in mind, system users were successfully exploring all components of the A/V System after only one training session.

GUI Screen Functions

These GUI Screens allow for custom, single-touch controls for the Judges or the Court Clerk to:

• Provide the jury with required information, the gallery with permitted information, and the legal teams with additional corresponding sound and video through displays, speakers and multi-zone sound delivery.
• Originate videoconferencing sessions for remote witnesses and experts.
• Activate the Evidence Podium, Witness Stand, Council, and Jury Box LCD screens for evidence display.
• Initiate annotation functions on the Evidence Podium and Witness Stand touch screen LCD panels.
• Mute, with one button, all audio and video evidence displays in emergencies.
• Provide sidebar-conversation sound-masking to the gallery and the jury.
• Ensure complete accuracy for court reporters’ headsets, even during private sidebar conversations.
• Control video playback of evidence and information from a variety of pre-recorded sources.
• Automate audio mixing for appropriate sound pressure levels.
• Switch and control program audio for A/V sources including video teleconferencing, DVD/VCR players, and auxiliary audio and microphone inputs.
• Power on and off all systems and audio/visual tools.

Cutting Edge Courtroom A/V Technology

Courtroom #4 at the Franklin County Courthouse possesses some of the most advanced presentation systems in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  These devices are designed to enhance the evidence presentation during court proceedings without hindering their flow.

SAGE seeks to advance the area's technological baseline, referring to its innovations as "reaching the PlayStation™ Generation." Though typically used in reference to SAGE's educational clients, the ideal is also applied to court proceedings.  Today’s jury pool is made from people who grew up watching television and playing video games, able to better comprehend visually-delivered evidence.

Evidence presentation is critical to court proceedings. It is imperative that the jury members are able to examine electronic evidence as closely as possible. The LCD panels in the jury box are specifically configured to allow for the best possible viewing. All electronic evidence displays are controlled entirely by the judge. In turn, he can entrust A/V system control to the court clerk, allowing himself to devote his undivided attention to the proceedings.

Equipment Highlights

• Crestron touchscreen control with graphical user interface (GUI)
  
• Sidebar sound masking feature
• Eight LCD monitors in jury box and witness stand plasma display
  
• Touchscreen annotation monitors at evidence podium and witness stand
  
• Computer, document camera, DVD, and VCR display capabilities
• Tandberg video/audio conferencing with echo cancellation
• Biamp DaVinci web-based audio control software
  
• Sennheiser ADA assisted listening systems

Solutions Provided by SAGE

At the commencement of the installation, Mr. Gruen commended the SAGE team, saying, “In my career designing courtrooms, I have worked with many systems integrators, some with hundreds of Federal Courthouses under their belts, that didn’t perform as well as your guys.”

The implementation of the Tandberg videoconferencing system allows counsel to place remote witnesses on the stand, maintaining continuity, without the expense and inconvenience of bringing them to the courtroom. The plasma screen strategically located above the witness chair brings the remote witness into the proceedings as though they were in the room.

The Sennheiser assisted listening system allows for ADA compliance and makes the proceedings accessible to hearing-impaired participants.  The system is infrared, confining the audio signal to the room where it originates. This maintains the proceedings' confidentiality by preventing the signal from penetrating the walls of the courtroom.