Courthouse camera controversy may get murderer new trial

BAY MINETTE, Ala. (WALA) - CONVICTED MURDERER LOOKING FOR NEW TRIAL

David Coombs was convicted last October in the murder of William Gruden and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Thomas Dasinger, Coombs’ attorney, said his client may deserve a new trial. The reason: security cameras in the Baldwin County courthouse that were not only taping, but recording audio as well.

Dasinger claims the audio from those cameras could have been used by prosecutors to listen into private conversations outside of the courtroom.

“Any attorney-client confidential communication between my client, or witnesses or the co-counsel or anybody else should be private communications. And if those were recorded, then they turned back around and used those in the trial, that’s where the state would have crossed the line,” Dasinger said.

95 CAMERAS AROUND COURTHOUSE

Ninety-five cameras were installed inside the Baldwin County courthouse in June of last year, 16 of which were capable of recording audio.

“When you go one step further, some of the cameras have the ability to zoom in on work product or zoom in on people, or witnesses. We just don’t know,” Dasinger said.

Dasinger said he doesn’t have any evidence that the cameras were used in such a manner and Baldwin County District Attorney Hallie Dixon said prosecutors never even knew about the recordings.

“I think defense attorneys will make allegations, but they’re not true in this case, and they won’t be true in any others. We’ll have to respond, so it will take that effort. But because there’s no truth to it, we’re confident there will never be any real problems from it,” Dixon said.

But Dasinger said he wants to know what’s on those tapes and if it could have be used in an improper way.

“A capital murder case should have the highest standard of review. A sign of impropriety such as this needs to be looked at,” Dasinger said.

JUDGE’S RULING

In Tuesday’s hearing, Judge James Reid denied a motion for a new trial, but he determined the video should be preserved as evidence for any later legal proceedings.

Currently the camera recordings are being reviewed by the U.S. District Attorney and the FBI.

Judge Reid said the defense would only have grounds for a new trial if the hard drive of the recordings was accessed during the original trial.