Phil Spector Retrial: Alternate Jurors Sworn In and Possible Camera Coverage

Updated!
The pressing news to report is, the alternate jurors have been selected and sworn in. Directly afterwards, Judge Fidler read the jurors instructions on how they are to try the case. Afterwards, the jurors were taken into the jury room to receive instructions from Fidler's clerk, Wendy.

Opening statements will still start as scheduled on Wednesday morning.

Then Judge Fidler said that the court has received a last minute request to have a "web cam" in the court. There apparently would not be a computer [camera] operator, but that wasn't clear. He does not know the particulars of the request so he can't rule on the request at this time. The details are currently being worked out with Allan Parachini. There will be a still photographer in the courtroom. There will be a still camera for opening statements. (I'm writing this from memory since I didn't take any notes on this, it happened so fast.) This is apparently a camera on a tripod in the gallery of the court and not mounted on the walls. This would just be for opening statements.

The media organization that made the "web cam" request was not named, nor was the organization that will film opening statements.

The general feeling now is that there will be plenty of room in the gallery for the general public since media interest in the trial has waned. I encourage anyone that would like to attend opening statements to come and see it happen for yourself. If you need particulars as to how to get to the courthouse via driving and where to find low cost parking, or if you plan to take the metro, please feel free to email me and I'll be happy to help you navigate your trip.

I will be updating this entry later, with the details of the last day of voir dire.

Update 10:35 pm!
The best laid plans...get sidetracked! I had planned on updating this entry this evening but Mr. Sprocket forced me to go microwave shopping. Last night, the microwave had a cerebral aneurysm. Mr. Sprocket spent a good part of the day today taking it apart and running to the used electronics store three times to buy new "switches" to install. After replacing the third switch and still unable to get the electronics to fire up, he gave up. It was about 6:30 in the evening when he said, "We're going shopping! Get the Consumer's Reports and lets go!" Costco, Target, Best Buy, Frys. We finally got back home a few minutes ago, with a new microwave we found on sale at Frys.

In other news, ritanita has finally joined T&T as a contributor. donchais and I are very happy that she agreed, since her Caylee ~ Casey Anthony coverage has been superb and has generated a considerable amount of traffic for the blog. Welcome, ritanita!

I had hoped to get this entry updated and finished tonight, and spend most of the day tomorrow, writing an entry on all the commentary that's been on the Internet about the BBC documentary that aired this past Saturday. The documentary was originally filmed last year, during the first trial. So it looks like I will either be behind, or decide to scrap the entry on the documentary all together.