The Trial Court of Massachusetts Superior Court for Bristol County

This protocol is intended to guide the public and the media interested in attending the arraignment in Commonwealth v. Aaron Hernandez scheduled in the First Session of the Superior Court sitting at the Fall River Justice Center at 2:00PM on September 6, 2013. The courtroom has sixty-four seats which will be distributed as follows. Eight seats will be reserved for the family and friends of the decedent. Eight seats will be reserved for the family and friends of the defendant. Twenty-four seats will be reserved for members of the media. Twenty-four seats will be reserved for members of the public. Members of the media are encouraged to review Supreme Judicial Court Rule 1:19. Members of the media may present their credentials to Superior Court Clerk Marc Santos starting at 10:00AM on September 6 in the lobby of the courthouse. Passes will be issued to those persons, first come, first served. Media persons must register with the SJC in order to use cameras or any electronic or recording devices. The public may line up at the entrance to the courtroom at 1:00PM on September 6. The first twenty-four people will be seated within the First Session. During the arraignment, photographs, recording or electronic transmission may take place within the First Session consistent with Supreme Judicial Court Rule 1:19. This means that all equipment and devices shall be of a type and operated in a manner which does not detract from the dignity and decorum of the proceeding. Only one stationary, mechanically silent video camera shall be used in the courtroom for broadcast television, a second mechanically silent video camera shall be used for other media, and, in addition, one silent still camera shall be used in the courtroom, at one time. The photographic equipment and the operators shall be in placed in a fixed position in the jury box and remain there during the arraignment, with movement kept to a minimum. The Policy on Clothing, Cameras and Cellular Telephones promulgated by the Chief Justice for Administration and Management on January 9, 2006 will be enforced within the courthouse. It provides that no person, except those employed by the media and covering the proceedings consistent with S.J.C. Rule 1:19, shall bring a camera, camera recording device, or tape recorder into a courthouse. The Policy provides that as to those cellular telephones which also have a camera or a video camera capacity, the camera and or video camera shall not be operated inside a courthouse.

No camera use will be permitted within the confines of the courthouse, by any person including the media, except for the equipment set up in the courtroom and described in the sixth paragraph, above.

The court will entertain any objections to this protocol on Thursday, September 5, 2013, at 3:00PM in the First Session in Fall River. So ordered:

Frances A. McIntyre Justice, Superior Court September 4, 2013