Web site films Kimberly court
By Melanie Patterson
The North Jefferson News
Things were a little different at Kimberly Municipal Court Thursday night.
About 20 defendants filed into the courtroom and saw two video cameras set up, one trained on the judge’s chair and one pointing to where the defendants would soon be standing in front of the judge.
The taping was a trial run, the first courtroom shoot for a new Web site called LegalTube.
Based loosely on YouTube, where anybody can post and watch videos, LegalTube bills itself as “The New Channel For Marketing Legal Services”.
While the Web site is up at www.legaltube.com, actual court video will not be shown until September, according to Lew Garrison of the law firm Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC, of Birmingham. The law firm is the owner of LegalTube.
Garrison, who formerly served as a prosecutor in Kimberly, said one purpose of LegalTube is “to allow consumers to see what goes on in real live court instead of through the filter of Hollywood.”
He pointed out that courtrooms are public forums where anyone is allowed to watch, but putting court on the Internet makes it even more accessible.
He said the firm chose Kimberly as the first filming site mainly because of Judge Buddy Wise and the Kimberly court staff.
“Buddy Wise is a judge we know very well. We know he runs a very good court,” Garrison said. “We think the public should see what goes on in a court run by a very good judge.”
Wise said he was honored that the makers of LegalTube chose Kimberly Municipal Court.
“I think people are hungry for these kinds of programs,” he said, adding that what people see on most TV court shows like Judge Judy is “not real justice” and that most television courts “do judges a bad service.”
“What you see here is real, raw justice. It is not staged,” he said. “It’s an honor for this court. There’s a great staff here. They’re getting recognition they deserve.”
The defendants in Kimberly had a choice about whether to be recorded. All but two signed releases Thursday allowing their cases to be videoed.
Cases ranged from illegal window tint to domestic violence and DUIs.
According to Sadler Evans, producer and director with Cre8ive Partners, the company filming court for LegalTube, two hours of recording might result in only three or four minutes of actual footage on the Web site.
Evans recorded the defendants, while videographer Anthony Hyde recorded Judge Wise during court.
Heninger Garrison Davis will pay the Town of Kimberly $500 for each court docket that is recorded for LegalTube, in addition to shooting a free video to promote the town on LegalTube.
According to Garrison, only four or five courtrooms will be featured on LegalTube for an undetermined amount of time. He said it would likely be courtrooms across the Southeast.
“We’ll stay here (in Kimberly) as long as they’ll let us,” he said.