No face shields required on witnesses in Southern District trial

Witnesses began testifying Tuesday in the second day of trial before Chief Judge Larry A. Burns of the Southern District of California, who has reassured jurors safety protocols are rigorously followed.

No witness was required to wear face shields while on stand. Attorneys however kept face shields on.

Burns is presiding over Southern California's first post-shutdown jury trial. The civil rights dispute between a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who accused officials with the Bureau of Firearms at the California Department of Justice for making false statements to a judge to get a search warrant for the inside his home in 2015. James Adams is suing the DOJ for negligence and excessive use of force stemming from his subsequent arrest. Adams v. County of San Diego et al. 3:16-CV-02161 (S.D. Cal., filed Aug. 26, 2016)

Southern District court rules prohibit attorneys from approaching witnesses, opposing counsel or the bench; rather courtroom technology should be used to display exhibits to the witnesses, to the Court and to opposing counsel, according to Burns' Interim Safety Protocols for In-Person Court Proceedings order signed June 10. The protocols apply in the Edward J. Schwartz Courthouse, the James M. Carter and Judith N. Keep Courthouse, the Jacob Weinberger Bankruptcy Courthouse and the El Centro United States Courthouse.

The order does allow trial judges to determine at his or her own discretion if witness testimony should be conducted via videoconference.

Defendant Richard Sotelo of the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Firearms personally appeared in court Tuesday to be cross-examined by plaintiffs' counsel Eugene Iredale about a previously-recorded deposition recalling the incident involving Adams' warrant and arrest. Paper exhibits are prohibited to the extent possible and are digitally uploaded, pre-marked and provided to the Court and opposing counsel prior to trial.

The exhibits were then displayed on a video projector to which the DOJ's lawyers objected. Sotelo should be provided an opportunity to review a physical copy of his deposition transcripts before responding to Iredale's questions, they said, to which Burns obliged. The judge allowed Iredale to physically approach the witness to provide paper exhibits.

"I know we have certain rules to follow but I will proceed however which way the court wishes to do so," Iredale said before approaching Sotelo.

From there, exhibits were displayed on multiple screens; one faced the witness on the stand, and another was set up to the right of the witness stand and faced the jury. From there, counsel digitally enlarged or manually zoomed into portions of an exhibit on the screen.

While attorneys trying cases in other parts of the state have rallied against jurors being masked during voir dire, no counsel objected to the jury in Adams' case keeping their masks on in lieu of face shields.

John Morrill, clerk of court for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, said that while all uniform protocols are in place, "the trial judge will exercise his/her discretion on face shields, masks or other types of face coverings."

According to the estimate Burns gave to jurors Monday, evidence will take three days to present. Time has been limited to no more than 10 hours for both sides to present their evidence. The court aims to have the case to the jury no later than Friday.

Sotelo and co-defendant Ernesto Limon are represented by Edward P. Wolfe and Tim Jude Vanden Heuvel of the California Department of Justice.