EVANSVILLE — Elizabeth Fox-Doerr’s ongoing murder trial for the killing of her husband, veteran Evansville firefighter Robert F. Doerr II, is the first criminal trial in Vanderburgh County to include live coverage by television news media since the Indiana Supreme Court overturned a rule barring cameras inside courtrooms last year.
And so far, there haven’t been any hiccups to speak of.
On Monday afternoon, just as Vanderburgh County Superior Court Judge Robert Pigman prepared to read jurors their preliminary instructions, he addressed the elephant in the courtroom: a camera affixed to a beefy tripod just feet away from the jury box.
“I have authorized the broadcast of this trial,” Pigman said. “If at any time I get any sense that the presence of the media is a distraction, I will pull the plug.”
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Pigman went on to inform jurors they would not be recorded or otherwise broadcast by television reporters. The 12 members of the jury and two alternate jurors appeared unfazed.