Court OKs new sound system [Cleburne Times-Review, Texas]

Dec. 28--District Judge William Bosworth isn't sure what has caused the sound system in the Guinn Justice Center to malfunction but he doesn't care -- he just wants it fixed.

Rumor has it that lightning struck the center, and ever since then the center's audio equipment stopped working in many of the courtrooms.

"I don't know if it was lightnning that caused it to stop working," Bosworth said. "But we just need to fix it."

The request for a new system was up for discussion in Tuesday's commissioners court meeting. The commissioners approved the request for a new sound system for the first floor courtroom with Overdrive Productions Inc.

The damaged equipment in courtrooms is unacceptable from a legal standpoint, he said.

"We shouldn't have to ask a soft-spoken victim to yell because I can't hear them," he said.

Jury members have also complained about not being able to hear testimonies and people who may be presenting evidence during a trial.

The sound system has been damaged for most of the year and the reason it has taken so long to correct the problem is because the company that installed the sound equipment went out of business.

This has forced the county to seek contractors to attempt to fix the equipment, which never happened.

"We've had people come in and tell us politely that we need to replace the entire system after we paid them a lot of money," Bosworth said.

It's critical the center receives the upgrades in light of some upcoming major criminal trials scheduled.

"We can't let anything interfere with our criminal cases," he said.

The estimated cost of the new system is about $4,300.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Rick Bailey wants the court to look into any insurance claims it may file about the lightning strike and if it's possible to be reimbursed.

"It might be possible to recollect some of our money back," he said.

County Attorney Bill Moore said he wasn't sure if that was something the court could pursue and that it would require digging up and looking at the original sound system's contract.

The court also approved a contract for a 15-passenger vehicle rental from Enterprise Rent-A-Car for the center.

Bosworth said the rental will be used to shuttle jurors to and from lunch during ongoing trials.

"It will help us save time," he said. "Instead of spending two hours waiting for people to come back for lunch and worrying about them talking about the case, we can have an officer take them to a place to eat."

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