Courtroom Search Excessive, Officials Say

A Ventura County Municipal Court judge who ordered spectators in his courtroom to be searched for weapons and their names checked for outstanding arrest warrants was operating outside the court’s security policy and this type of search should not occur again without reasonable cause, county officials said Tuesday.

At a meeting earlier this week, County Counsel James McBride and Sheriff’s Cmdr. John Kingsley assured county prosecutors and public defenders that mass courtroom searches, such as the one ordered by Judge Steven E. Hintz on Nov. 15, will not be repeated without reasonable cause.

Public Defender Kenneth I. Clayman said he is satisfied with reassurances from McBride and Kingsley, who oversees court security, that mass searches of spectators will not be done without cause and that mass warrant checks probably will never be repeated.

Clayman said his office has withdrawn its request for a Superior Court order forbidding such procedures in light of the officials’ agreement not to allow unjustified searches.

“Those things that we sought to clarify. . .have been completely remedied by this particular agreement,” Clayman said. “We’re very pleased with it and I hope the public will feel safer, too.”

On Nov. 15, Hintz ordered bailiffs to lock Courtroom 12, use hand-held metal detectors to search about 20 courtroom spectators for weapons and check their names against court records for outstanding arrest warrants.

Five days later, Clayman’s office petitioned the Superior Court to order the Municipal Court to refrain from repeating the procedure, and to show reasonable cause before conducting any searches in the future.

But the courtroom search policy has not changed, even though the dispute has been settled, McBride said.

“The sheriff has reviewed his policy and basically is stating that. . .searches will be done on a reasonable cause or suspicion-type basis,” McBride said.

As for the search Hintz ordered, McBride said, “I think Ken Clayman admits it was outside the policy and it probably was somewhat different from the policy.”

But McBride said the policy has never been spelled out in detail because court and sheriff’s officials prefer to govern their security procedures by following the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which forbids illegal searches.

“Rather than establishing a fine, hard line on what’s allowed and what isn’t allowed, we’re going to look at things on a case-by-case basis,” McBride said.

Assistant County Counsel Noel A. Klebaum said it is extremely unlikely that courtroom spectators will be checked en masse for outstanding warrants ever again, although individual spectators could be checked if court or security officials deem it necessary.