CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — 3NEWS obtained new video Thursday revealing that court staff, prosecutors and defense attorneys were aware video and audio recordings were being made in the 214th district courtroom for what may have been an entire year.
Up until now, it was believed the recording of jury deliberations was limited to a couple of trials.
Now with the release of the video from one of the defense attorney's involved in the complaint against Judge Inna Klein, the broader issue of jury privacy is being questioned.
The original recording includes audio clear enough to be picked up from as far away as the public entrance into the courtroom. Defense Attorney Terry Shamsie obtained the entire batch of audible recordings relevant to a different case he was involved with.
That portion of the recording is now in evidence as part of the State Commission on Judicial Conducts investigate Klein's courtroom.
However, there is one segment in the video that Shamsie allowed 3NEWS to use which he said reveals the court was aware jurors were being recorded long before the issue came to light.
"I got a court order that allowed me to go into a hard drive and obtain some evidence that would substantiate my position as to why she should be removed from my cases," Shamsie said.
A portion of the video shows where two defense attorneys and the court bailiff discuss the timeline of the court recordings. The copy of the recording 3NEWS obtained continues and ends with a comment form the defense attorney.
"Well they're trying to make it seem like they just found out about it just yesterday. I said no, the prosecutors were here last week. Bailiff: they were in."
Reaction to the issue of eavesdropping of jurors in the 214th district court has been swift.
"In the 40 years I've been here, I have never seen a problem like this," said Judge Carlos Valdez.
Earlier this week, Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez formally asked that Klein recuse herself from all criminal cases in the 214th district court.
Fallout after Klein was accused of listening in on secret jury deliberations for one of her murder trials. At stake, Nueces County could have to bring in visiting judges to hear its criminal cases, at cost to taxpayers that could reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
If Klein is recused from her cases, it'll fall on Judge Missy Medary, the firth region judge, to either assign visiting judges to the 214th criminal cases or decide if another district court will take those cases on.
Bottom line, taxpayers will foot the bill for the visiting judges or force the seven district courts to take on even more cases.
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