A state judge has permitted a media organization called the Hawaii Guerrilla Video Hui to videotape a petty misdemeanor trial of a woman charged with disorderly conduct at Kapiolani Park on May 1.
Honolulu District Judge Dean Ochiai Wednesday granted the group’s request for permission, then presided over the trial of Laulani Teale. The trial will resume Nov. 5.
In August, Ochiai granted the group’s application for camera coverage, but when the case was transferred to Honolulu District Judge Paula Devens-Matayoshi in September, she sent the case back to Ochiai.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii filed a brief in Teale’s case sayingDevens-Matayoshi had expressed concern that the camera request may not have been "providently granted."
The ACLU said the reasons for Devens-Matayoshi’s actions are not clear, but said they might include the name of the organization and its "legitimacy as a media organization."
Court rules define media broadly and judges should not discriminate against media groups based on their editorial viewpoints, the ACLU said.
State judges have approved camera coverage requested by newspapers and television stations since the 1980s, when the Hawaii Supreme Court approved cameras in the courtroom.
"Our concern was just that the rules would be applied equally to everyone," said Dan Gluck, senior staff attorney for Hawaii’s ACLU. "It seems like the judge did just that."
Teale, 45, who is representing herself, is accused of being disruptive, but she said she was only trying to ask Mayor Peter Carlisle a question about why her banner had been taken from Thomas Square a day earlier.
Teale said she is a supporter of Occupy Honolulu.
She, Kamuela Vance Viveiros and H. Doug Matsuoka make up the Hawaii Guerrilla group, which was formed last year.
Its mission statement, the ACLU said, includes sharing stories "especially in places where those abusing power meet those standing against that abuse."
