Sentencing In Cop's Murder To Be First Test Of Cameras In Cook County Courtroom
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For the first time in Cook County, cameras will be allowed inside a criminal courtroom, when a judge sentences two men convicted of killing a Chicago police officer.
In December, the Illinois Supreme Court allowed Cook County to begin using cameras and audio recording devices in courtrooms on an experimental basis.
Though criminal courtrooms were allowed to begin using cameras on Jan. 5, it's up to each individual judge to determine when to allow cameras and microphones to record proceedings.
Cook County Judge Timothy Joyce has allowed the news media to use two still cameras and one video camera to record the sentencing of Paris McGee and Toyious Taylor, who face mandatory life sentences in the shooting death of Chicago Police Officer Thomas Wortham IV.
Wortham, 30, was visiting his parents on May 19, 2010, when four men tried to rob him of his motorcycle. When he identified himself as a police officer, and drew his weapon, the robbers shot him in the abdomen.
Taylor and McGee allegedly were in the getaway car during the robbery while two brothers, Marcus and Brian Floyd, confronted Wortham.
Brian Floyd was killed in a shootout with Wortham's father, a retired police officer. Marcus Floyd survived the shootout, and was charged with murder, but Joyce has yet to decide if he is mentally fit to face trial. Defense attorneys have said Marcus Floyd suffers from amnesia due to his injuries from the shooting, and can't remember what happened that night.
