By JOSH FOREMAN
Staff Reporter
A mistake by Circuit Court Judge Marcus D. Gordon stopped audio recording of the opening arguments of the Edgar Ray Killen murder trial Wednesday.
The mistake meant that dozens of journalists from groups such as Court TV didn’t get the live audio feed they were counting on from the arguments.
Reporters present at the courthouse said Gordon controls a “kill switch” that blocks audio recording in the courtroom. He accidently triggered the switch before arguments began, they said.
Patsy Brumfield is the coordinator of the media center about a block from the courthouse, where for a week journalists have been using the high-speed Internet and equipment hookups. She said about 50 angry reporters, receiving video feed but no audio feed, tried to discern the problem while opening arguments unfolded. “They were pretty excited,” she said.
The mistake also means that no audio record of the opening arguments of the trial, one of the most important of the civil rights era, exists.
Brumfield said the blocked audio was strictly the result of human error, not technical malfunction. “We’re hoping they can work that out by tomorrow,” she said.
The media center, set up about a block from the courthouse, provides 20 tables and three big-screen televisions for journalists working there.
Brumfield and her co-coordinators also prepare drinks and snacks for the media each day.
There were no reports of audio trouble inside the courtroom Thursday, but testimony was cut short around 10:30 a.m. when Killen had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. Journalists spent most of the day outside, interviewing sources as they came out of the courthouse.
