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The Trial Court of Massachusetts

Superior Court for Bristol County

This protocol is intended to guide the public and the media interested in attending the

arraignment in Commonwealth v. Aaron Hernandez scheduled in the First Session of the

Superior Court sitting at the Fall River Justice Center at 2:00PM on September 6, 2013.

The courtroom has sixty-four seats which will be distributed as follows. Eight seats will

be reserved for the family and friends of the decedent. Eight seats will be reserved for the family

and friends of the defendant. Twenty-four seats will be reserved for members of the media.

Twenty-four seats will be reserved for members of the public.

Members of the media are encouraged to review Supreme Judicial Court Rule 1:19.

Members of the media may present their credentials to Superior Court Clerk Marc Santos

starting at 10:00AM on September 6 in the lobby of the courthouse. Passes will be issued to

those persons, first come, first served. Media persons must register with the SJC in order to use

cameras or any electronic or recording devices.

The public may line up at the entrance to the courtroom at 1:00PM on September 6. The

first twenty-four people will be seated within the First Session.

During the arraignment, photographs, recording or electronic transmission may take place

within the First Session consistent with Supreme Judicial Court Rule 1:19. This means that allequipment and devices shall be of a type and operated in a manner which does not detract from

the dignity and decorum of the proceeding. Only one stationary, mechanically silent video

camera shall be used in the courtroom for broadcast television, a second mechanically silent

video camera shall be used for other media, and, in addition, one silent still camera shall be used

in the courtroom, at one time. The photographic equipment and the operators shall be in placed

in a fixed position in the jury box and remain there during the arraignment, with movement kept

to a minimum.

The Policy on Clothing, Cameras and Cellular Telephones promulgated by the Chief

Justice for Administration and Management on January 9, 2006 will be enforced within thecourthouse. It provides that no person, except those employed by the media and covering the

proceedings consistent with S.J.C. Rule 1:19, shall bring a camera, camera recording device, or

tape recorder into a courthouse. The Policy provides that as to those cellular telephones which

also have a camera or a video camera capacity, the camera and or video camera shall not be

operated inside a courthouse.

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No camera use will be permitted within the confines of the courthouse, by any person

including the media, except for the equipment set up in the courtroom and described in the sixth

paragraph, above.

The court will entertain any objections to this protocol on Thursday, September 5, 2013,

at 3:00PM in the First Session in Fall River.

So ordered:

Frances A. McIntyre

Justice, Superior Court

September 4, 2013