State court officials have adopted Twitter handles, nearly one year after the media was allowed to provide live tweets from inside 22nd Judicial District courtrooms.
In a statement released last week, the Colorado Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and Office of the State Court Administrator announced that each had established Twitter accounts. The statement said the online communication tool, which limits a single message to 140 characters, would provide an added communication portal to the public.
“Social media platforms such as Twitter have proven to be powerful and useful communication tools with deep reach to broad audiences,” said Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Nancy Rice. “I believe that Twitter will enhance our outreach and communication efforts as we pursue our mission to educate Coloradans about the roles, responsibilities and actions of our Courts.”
In December 2014, District Court Judge Todd Plewe first granted The Journal permission to report live from the courtroom via Twitter, @tcbCortez, during an assault trial involving several Cortez police officers. The Make My Day case ended in acquittal.
The following month, despite objections from the public defender’s office, Chief District Court Judge Doug Walker granted a similar request allowing The Journal to send live courtroom updates via Twitter during the trial of a convicted sex offender. At the time, Walker stipulated that the use of social media couldn’t distract jurors or witnesses.
In this week’s announcement, the Colorado Supreme Court will tweet case announcements, oral argument schedules, proposed and adopted rule changes, committee actions and events hosted by justices @CoSupremeCourt.
Information from the Colorado Court of Appeals can be accessed @CoCourtAppeals, and the statewide Judicial Twitter handle, @CoCourts, will be used by both the Office of the State Court Administrator and Colorado’s District and County Courts.
The court’s public information officer, Rob McCallum, @rwmccallum, started using Twitter in 2012.
