NEWS RELEASE: March 1, 1995
Attorneys use New Technology
to Annotate Evidence in Simpson Trial
Once only football analysts could draw on television. Now, with the introduction of a new technology, video marking has made its way into the courtroom. On February 6, 1995, Judge Lance Ito approved the Boeckeler PointmakerŪ video marker for use in his courtroom during the O.J. Simpson trial. The product was requested by attorneys when they found that they needed an easy way to focus the judge and jury's attention on video evidence. This evidence is displayed simultaneously on four monitors, a video projector -- and, with Judge Ito's approval -- to the news media for television broadcast.
This configuration diagram is available in Adobe Acrobat format: courtroom1.pdf
"In this trial, video evidence is generated in a variety of ways," says Boeckeler Vice President Pat Brey, who helped with the installation. "It can be presented as a videotape of the crime scene replayed by a VCR; as documents, photographs, sketches and maps captured by a document camera; or as other images retrieved from a laser disk player or computer. Because of the extensive use of video and multimedia in this trial, there's a need for a video marker."
Using colorful drawing lines and pointers generated by the Pointmaker, attorneys can now easily draw and point on the video image being discussed much the same way sports commentators draw on football plays. "While the concept itself is not new, Boeckeler recently made the technology simple and inexpensive enough to use in smaller presentation arenas, including classrooms, distance learning centers and boardrooms," Brey says. "The legal community has just caught on to it."
Will TV viewers be able to see the product? "It's not the product they'll see so much, but the drawings it produces," he says. "During a description of evidence, they might see vibrant lines being drawn or pointers set, such as along a witness's path on a map. When looking at the courtroom, television viewers might see a small white drawing slate -- the Pointmaker digitizing tablet -- lying on or near the attorney's podium." This tablet is what the attorneys use to draw on or to select pointers with.
Like many of the products in the courtroom, the Pointmaker is on loan to the courtroom for the duration of the trial. "The high technology in this courtroom is being seen nationwide," says Brey. "This will serve to educate members of the legal community about the new communication tools that are available to them -- tools that can help them communicate more clearly, perhaps even more powerfully, during testimony."
Only a few days before the Pointmaker was installed in the courtroom, Boeckeler Instruments received a call from Decision Quest, a support agency for the prosecution. Decision Quest had been requested to find something that would allow attorneys to draw on video images. Through contacting two other companies: Houston-based video systems integrator Data Display, and Total Marketing of Houston (a Pointmaker representative), they found out about Pointmaker video markers.
Once contact was made directly with Boeckeler Instruments, the Boeckeler staff took action. Engineering personnel hustled to meet the weekend demand which included a few custom software changes. Marketing personnel quickly rearranged travel schedules to have the installation personally overseen and to make the necessary product presentation to Judge Ito in Los Angeles on Monday, February 6.
"We never expected to leap right into a nationally-televised trial," Brey admits. "We just placed a Pointmaker in a showcase installation here in Tucson -- the Courtroom of the Future at the University of Arizona Law School -- in hopes of helping Professor Winton Woods educate future attorneys about the technology available to them. It's great to see that today's attorneys are interested."
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This configuration diagram available in Adobe Acrobat format: courtroom2.pdf
COMPANY / PRODUCT BACKGROUND: Boeckeler Instruments, Inc., of Tucson, Arizona, was established in 1942 as a manufacturer of precision measuring devices. As the video age developed, the company expanded its product offering to include devices that could measure video images used in medicine and industry. In 1993, the marking features in the Boeckeler video measuring systems were streamlined to produce a new line of products that could be used by anyone wanting to make their point on a video image. Pointmaker video markers were designed for the audio/visual presentation markets, including those in education, corporations, the military, professional agencies, broadcasting studios, sports training centers and courtrooms. Several different models are available, ranging in price from $395 to $3,100, depending on the features needed. The Pointmaker in Judge Ito's courtroom during the trial is a PVI-72D SVGA multiple-sync video marker with digitizing tablet, which lists for $2,795.
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