Vermont: Introduction to State Courts

Summary

Staff attorneys with the ACLU of Vermont provide an overview of the state court system. They explain the two-tiered structure of courts, outline which courts handle different case types, and discuss constitutional rights around public access to proceedings and records. They note presumptive openness, with some statutory exceptions like juvenile and mental health cases. They review procedural rules on media recording in courtrooms and detail how to physically or electronically access various civil and criminal case records.

Takeaways

• 📚 The New England First Amendment Coalition (NEFAC) offers comprehensive lessons on state Freedom of Information laws to educate on accessing government information.
• 🗞️ NEFAC's curriculum, unique in its coverage, is available at nefac.org and on their YouTube channel, focusing on state public record, open meeting laws, and the federal Freedom of Information Act.
• 📝 This webinar, led by Emily Sweeney from the Boston Globe and the NEFAC, focuses on the Vermont state courts, featuring Hillary Rich and Harrison Stock from the Vermont ACLU.
• 🛠 Vermont's state court system is uniquely structured with only two levels: the trial courts (Superior Courts) and the Supreme Court, facilitating an automatic right of appeal.
• 💰 Each of Vermont's 14 counties has its own Superior Court with various divisions handling specific types of cases, from civil matters to criminal, environmental, and family issues.
• 📖 The Vermont Supreme Court, consisting of five justices, oversees appeals, manages the court system, and regulates attorney and judge conduct.
• 🌐 Public and press have a qualified right of access to court proceedings, grounded in the First Amendment, ensuring transparency and fairness in the judicial process.
• 🚫 Certain exceptions limit access to court proceedings and records, including grand jury proceedings, juvenile court proceedings, and cases involving youthful offender status.
• 📷 Rule 79.2 specifies the rights of media, participants, and the public regarding the use of recording devices in courtrooms, reflecting the balance between access and privacy.
• 🔍 Accessing Vermont court records involves understanding the Vermont rules for public access, differentiating between physical and electronic access, and navigating exceptions and appeals processes.

Q & A

What are the two levels of courts in the Vermont state court system?

The two levels are the Vermont Trial Courts, also called the Vermont Superior Courts, and the Vermont Supreme Court.

How do justices get appointed to the Vermont Supreme Court?

Justices are appointed by the governor and then confirmed by the Vermont Senate for a six-year term.

What gives the public and press a qualified right of access to court proceedings?

The qualified right of access is primarily grounded in the First Amendment, as ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court.

What needs to happen for a court to be closed to the public in Vermont?

To close a proceeding, a party must demonstrate closure is essential to preserve higher values or compelling interests, and that closure is narrowly tailored to serve that interest. The court must also exhaust all reasonable alternatives before closing.

What governs access to court records in Vermont?

Access is governed by the Vermont Rules for Public Access to Court Records, created by the Vermont Supreme Court, rather than the state's Public Records Act.

Where are original court records located?

Original records are located with the clerk of the court in the courthouse where the case was filed.

How can criminal court dockets be accessed electronically?

Criminal court dockets can only be accessed electronically via public access terminals located inside courthouses, not remotely.

What happens if a record custodian denies access to a record?

If access is denied, an appeal can be filed with the presiding judge of the court within 7 days.

Are there any fees for accessing or copying records?

Inspection is free but there may be fees for copies or staff time, similar to the Public Records Act.

What types of cases have restrictions on public access?

Access is restricted for juvenile cases, grand jury proceedings, mental health/competency cases, and attorney discipline.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to New England State Courts Webinar

Justin Silverman introduces the New England First Amendment Coalition's (NEFAC) webinar series, focusing on state Freedom of Information laws. He highlights the importance of accessing government information through their lessons, which cover state public record, open meeting laws, and the federal Freedom of Information Act. The webinar aims to provide a unique curriculum on these topics, available at NEFAC's website and YouTube channel. Special thanks are given to the Society of Professional Journalists Foundation, SBJ New England, the Rhode Island Foundation, and the New England Society of News Editors for their support. Emily Sweeney from the Boston Globe and NEFAC introduces the session's focus on Vermont state courts, featuring ACLU staff attorneys Hillary Rich and Harrison Stock to discuss accessing Vermont court and court records.

05:00

🏛️ Overview of Vermont State Court System

This segment provides a comprehensive look into the Vermont state court system, highlighting its unique two-level structure compared to the federal court system. The first level consists of the Vermont Superior Courts (trial courts) across Vermont's 14 counties, divided into different divisions handling various cases. The Vermont Supreme Court stands as the second level, where parties have an automatic right of appeal from the Superior Courts. The segment further details the types of cases each division handles, including civil matters, family court issues, criminal cases, probate court matters, and environmental law. It emphasizes the role of the Vermont Supreme Court in handling appeals, managing the court system, and overseeing attorney admissions and discipline. The accessibility of court proceedings and records to the public and press, grounded in the First Amendment, is underscored, with Vermont courts being presumptively open to the public.

10:04

🔒 Exceptions to Public Access in Court Proceedings

This paragraph delves into the exceptions to the general rule of public access to court proceedings in Vermont. It outlines specific cases where proceedings are closed to the public, such as grand jury proceedings and juvenile court cases. The segment also covers the youthful offender status, which allows for confidentiality in certain cases involving individuals 21 or younger. The rigorous criteria required for closing a court proceeding to the public are discussed, emphasizing the need for demonstrating a compelling interest and exploring all alternatives before closure. The stringent standards for issuing gag orders and prior restraints on speech are highlighted, showcasing their rarity and the high bar set for their implementation.

15:06

🎥 Reporting Rights and Access to Courtrooms

This section outlines the rights related to recording and reporting in Vermont courtrooms under Rule 79.2, distinguishing between media, participants, and non-participants. It elaborates on the permissions and limitations placed on these groups regarding the use of recording devices in courtrooms. The rule aims to balance the need for public access and transparency with the integrity of court proceedings and the privacy of involved parties. Additionally, the societal benefits of public trials, such as enhancing the quality of testimony and encouraging judicial accountability, are underscored, emphasizing the importance of the presumption of access to court proceedings for the media, public, and overall democratic society.

20:07

📁 Accessing Court Records in Vermont

Harry Stock provides an overview of accessing court records in Vermont, emphasizing the constitutional and common law rights to these records. Unlike the public records act, access to court records is governed by the Vermont Rules for Public Access to Court Records, established by the Vermont Supreme Court. The segment explains the presumption that court records are open to the public, detailing exceptions and the duty to redact sensitive information. It guides on obtaining physical and electronic records, including the process for appealing denied access requests. The importance of public access to court records for transparency and accountability in the judiciary is highlighted.

🔍 Electronic and Physical Access to Vermont Court Records

This segment further explores the specifics of accessing electronic and physical court records in Vermont. It differentiates between civil and criminal dockets in terms of remote access and highlights the role of public access terminals in courthouses for accessing criminal records electronically. The segment details the process for inspecting and obtaining copies of court records, including potential fees and the appeals process for denied access. The segment concludes with acknowledgments and thanks to the presenters and organizers, reinforcing the webinar's aim to educate the public on accessing Vermont court and court records.

Keywords

💡New England First Amendment Coalition (NEFAC)

The New England First Amendment Coalition (NEFAC) is an organization focused on promoting and supporting the First Amendment rights and freedom of information laws in New England. In the context of the video, NEFAC is presented as the entity providing educational resources on accessing government information, including state court systems and public records. This highlights NEFAC's role in advocating for transparency, public access to information, and the importance of understanding legal processes related to freedom of information.

💡Freedom of Information laws

Freedom of Information laws are designed to ensure public access to government records and information. These laws are crucial for maintaining transparency and accountability within governmental bodies. In the video, the focus on state Freedom of Information laws in New England underscores their importance in enabling citizens to access government-held information, thereby fostering an informed and engaged populace.

💡Vermont Superior Courts

Vermont Superior Courts are trial-level courts within the Vermont state court system that handle a wide range of cases, including civil, criminal, family, and probate matters. The video details how Vermont's 14 counties each have a Superior Court, emphasizing the court's role in the judicial system and its importance in resolving various legal disputes at the local level.

💡Vermont Supreme Court

The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest court in the Vermont state court system, with responsibilities including hearing appeals from lower courts, overseeing the judicial system, and managing attorney admission and discipline. The video's mention of the Vermont Supreme Court highlights its pivotal role in shaping Vermont's legal landscape and ensuring justice at the state level.

💡Public access to court proceedings

Public access to court proceedings refers to the principle that court hearings and records should generally be open to the public, barring specific exceptions. This concept is emphasized in the video as a fundamental aspect of the judicial system, supporting transparency, accountability, and the public's right to be informed about legal processes and outcomes.

💡Access to court records

Access to court records involves the ability of individuals to obtain documents and information from legal proceedings. The video discusses how such access is governed in Vermont, highlighting the balance between public transparency and the protection of sensitive information. It is presented as a critical component of the legal system, enabling oversight and public understanding of judicial decisions.

💡Presumptive right of access

The presumptive right of access is a legal principle stating that court proceedings and records are presumptively open to the public, subject to specific exceptions. This concept is explored in the video to emphasize the default openness of the courts, which serves to promote fairness, transparency, and public trust in the judicial system.

💡Juvenile proceedings

Juvenile proceedings involve legal matters concerning minors and are typically treated with greater confidentiality to protect the privacy and future of young individuals. The video mentions juvenile proceedings as an example of an exception to the general rule of public access, illustrating how the judicial system balances transparency with the need to protect vulnerable populations.

💡Rule 79.2

Rule 79.2 pertains to the use of recording devices in Vermont courtrooms, distinguishing between the rights of media members, participants, and observers. This rule, as described in the video, reflects the courts' efforts to manage the impact of modern technology on the judicial process while maintaining courtroom decorum and respecting participants' rights.

💡Public records act

The Public Records Act is a law governing the accessibility of government documents and information to the public. Although the video specifically addresses court records in Vermont, the mention of the Public Records Act contextualizes the broader framework of legal provisions ensuring public access to government-held information, reinforcing the theme of transparency and accountability.

Highlights

There are only two levels of courts in Vermont: the trial courts (Vermont Superior Courts) and the Vermont Supreme Court.

Vermont Superior Courts are divided into different divisions that handle different types of cases like civil, criminal, family, probate, etc.

Parties have an automatic right to appeal from the Superior Courts to the Vermont Supreme Court.

The public and press have a qualified First Amendment right to attend criminal court proceedings in Vermont.

There is no comprehensive statute in Vermont governing public access to court proceedings, but it is generally presumptively open.

Grand jury proceedings are an exception that are closed to the public by statute in Vermont.

It is very difficult to get a court in Vermont to close a proceeding - the bar for demonstrating need for closure is extremely high.

Media can get a registration certificate to record and transmit from Vermont courtrooms under the rules.

Citizens have a constitutional right to access Vermont court records, governed by the Vermont Rules for Public Access to Court Records.

If a court record is from a proceeding the public can access, the public presumptively can access that record.

To access a physical court record, go to the clerk's office of the court where it was filed.

Civil court dockets can be accessed online remotely but criminal ones can only be accessed electronically at courthouse terminals.

If denied access to a court record, you can appeal to the presiding judge and then the Vermont Supreme Court.

The custodian of the court records is almost always the clerk of the court where it was filed.

For older court records, the Vermont State Archives may have them and can assist with locating records.

Transcripts

I'm Justin Silverman of the New England

First Amendment Coalition thank you for

joining us for this introductory lesson

on New England state courts this lesson

is the latest of many provided by neefac

that explore State Freedom of

Information laws we want you to know how

to access government information in

these lessons are the best place to

start if you haven't already please

check out our classes on state public

record and open meeting laws as well as

the federal Freedom of Information Act

each class builds off one another and

they all collectively provide a

curriculum you won't find anywhere else

all lessons all right kneefact.org foi

guide they're also on our YouTube

channel five freedoms

before we begin today's lesson a special

thanks to everyone who is helping us

make these classes happen the society

professional journalist Foundation SBJ

New England the Rhode Island foundation

and the New England society of news

editors we appreciate everyone's support

now to introduce you to today's

instructor

Emily Sweeney hey everybody I'm Emily

Sweeney from the Boston Globe and the

New England First Amendment Coalition

and I want to thank you all for joining

us for this webinar now this session is

going to focus on state courts in

Vermont and with us is Hillary rich and

Harrison stock and their staff Attorneys

at the Vermont ACLU affiliate and

they're going to give us a general

overview of how the courts work in the

Green Mountain State

thank you guys Hillary Harry for uh

joining us today

yeah thanks so much for having us uh so

it's like that I'm Hilary Rich staff

attorney with the ACLU of Vermont here

with my colleague Harry Stark to discuss

with you all today accessing Vermont

court and court records

so since this is the first in a series

of presentation that will become more in

depth as they progress Harry and I are

going to be giving you a general

overview today of a few points we're

going to be discussing how the Vermont

state court system works including Corp

structure what court handles what

matters I'm also going to be discussing

the rules that are in place for

accessing carings so the Constitutional

basis and the judicial policies and then

Harry's going to be covering how to

access court records and the rules

associated with that and we'll also have

time at the end to answer any questions

that you might have

so first I wanted to give you a broad

overview of what the Vermont state court

system looks like so unlike the federal

court system that has three levels the

Vermont state courts are a little unique

because there's only those two levels uh

so at the first level is the Vermont

trial courts uh also called Vermont

Superior Courts

um and you can see then right above that

is the Vermont Supreme Court

so Vermont again because there's only

these two levels parties actually have

an automatic right of appeal from the

Superior Court to the Vermont Supreme

Court and you can see on the slide that

there's sort of a range of different

positions that are appointed elected or

staffed by state employees and now we're

going to be discussing kind of those two

levels in more detail

uh so looking first at level one the

Vermont Superior Courts or Vermont trial

courts

the Vermont's 14 counties actually has

its own Superior Court that's divided

into different divisions and they handle

different kinds of cases so the chief

Superior judge assigned a presiding

judge to each of the units and judicial

assignments lasts for about a year and

so that means that throughout the course

of your case uh your judge could

actually change

so looking at the specific divisions

there is a Civil Division that handles

civil matters like land disputes

foreclosure medical malpractice breach

of contract addiction and there's also a

small claims court that handles uh

claims under five thousand dollars this

is where the ACLU does most of it's

litigating you know bringing civil

rights actions

there's also a family court and they

handle the stereotypical you know Family

Matters like divorce civil union

dissolution separation child support and

custody and parentage uh this is the

court that also determines how the state

will care for people who have mental

illnesses and developmental disabilities

there's a criminal court uh that does

the misdemeanors and felonies

um they also have special treatment

courts that deal with drug issues

specifically and this is the court that

also approves or declines like search

and arrest warrants

there's the probate court and

conceptually there seems like there's a

little bit of overlap with the family

court but they are separate divisions

Probate Court specifically handled

emancipation adoptions guardianships

death birth and marriage records and the

probate of the states trust and wills

the environmental Court obviously

handled environmental law and there's a

Judicial Bureau that covers cases

relating to civil violation so um things

like Traffic courts and Municipal

ordinances that happened at the judicial

Bureau

so not only does each Court have its own

uh type of case that it oversees but

they also each have their own rules and

their own filing fees the judicial

Bureau 65 Civil Division 295 so quite a

range uh when you're going to court

so let's say a party is dissatisfied

with their outcome at Superior Court

they then can appeal to the Vermont

Supreme Court uh there are five justices

on the Vermont Supreme Court uh one

chief justice and four Associates

um they become a Justice by being uh

appointed by the governor and then

confirmed by the Vermont senate for a

six-year term and actually each of these

justices was recently reappointed for

another six years

um the duties are listed on this live

they include handling appeals from the

lower courts also they deal with appeals

from State and Municipal agencies but

cases are heard either by three justices

or the full five and then they'll issue

written decisions

this court also creates rules for

procedure they manage the court system

and they oversee attorney admission and

the discipline of all judges and

attorneys licensed in Vermont

so now that we've covered you know what

court does what let's talk more

generally about uh how you have rights

around accessing these courts

so the public and the Press do have a

qualified right of access to court

proceeding and what that means is there

is a right to access but that right is

not Limitless

uh the right is primarily grounded in

the First Amendment and the U.S Supreme

Court has explicitly held at the press

and public have a First Amendment right

to attend criminal proceedings

um so the Sixth Amendment right you may

be aware gives people a right to a

public trial but that right attaches

just to the accused it doesn't really

vest any rights in the press or public

so when we're talking about the public

and press we're usually talking just

about the First Amendment

um so although the First Amendment

doesn't explicitly mention the rate of

access to the court the U.S Supreme

Court has held that the right to attend

criminal proceedings is really implicit

in free speech and it serves an

important function in a Democratic

Society uh to make sure that trials are

fair this is really a long-standing

right that goes back to Colonial days

but the Supreme Court uh only

acknowledged it first in the 1980s and

first they found a right to attend

criminal trials and later they expanded

that right to attend jury selection and

preliminary proceedings

now the Supreme Court has never actually

recognized a right of access to civil

proceedings although several States and

lower federal courts

but in Vermont most criminal and civil

hearings are open to the public

so there's no comprehensive rule or

statute governing public access to court

proceedings in Vermont uh but the

Vermont Supreme Court has repeatedly

recognized the generally accepted

practice as well as the Public's

constitutional and common law right of

access to court records and to court

proceedings so therefore Vermont court

proceedings are presumptively open to

the public with closure being the

exception rather than the rule

and both of these quotes are from a case

called Date B Talman which was before

the Vermont Supreme Court in 1987. now

in that case a defendant had been

accused of murder and asked the court to

actually just feel the probable cause at

the David and close the courtroom during

a suppression hearing and the media

actually intervened in that case and

went before the Vermont Supreme Court

and the Supreme Court sided with the

media they said it was wrong for the

media to have then denied access without

the defendant having really presented

any evidence of why closure was

necessary

so generally we see that there is a

presumptive right of access to the

courts in Vermont and typically you

don't need to request access for

criminal civil or appellate proceedings

there's the caveat that for remote

hearings you might need to request the

link from the court administrator but

they should not make you jump through

any Hoops to attend in person or

remotely

but let's talk about exception so we can

see in some of these exceptions uh and

in court decision they recognize that

the First Amendment rights are really

important but there is some tension with

other rights at stake uh you know we

want to ensure that a defendant has an

unbiased jury we want to protect

Witnesses we want to make sure that

juvenile offenders are receiving

Rehabilitation at their privacy is

respected

so there are specific exceptions uh to

the rule of presumptive access

one of those exceptions is for Grand

Jury proceedings

although uh there is a presumptive right

to access jury selection uh grand jury

proceedings themselves are closed and

there's actually a statute that defines

who is even allowed to be in the room

during grand jury proceedings uh jurors

themselves have to take an oath to keep

their deliberations in Grand Jury

proceedings at secret

there is also a statute that closes the

court during a juvenile court

proceedings

um a Vermont statute actually prohibits

even publicizing a child's involvement

in Juvenile Justice proceedings without

their consent

and uh as of July 1st 2018 anyone who is

21 or younger who was charged with a

crime in Vermont can petition for

something called youthful offender

status at that point of the petition

records are transferred from Criminal

Court to Family Court uh and the case is

confidential until that family court

judge makes a ruling on whether youthful

offenders status applies uh at that

point if they say this case deserves

useful offender status it remains

confidential if not it goes back to

Criminal Court where it's fair game for

Public Access once again

um but there are situations in which a

party might want the court closed but a

statute doesn't apply

and it is very difficult in Vermont for

a party to get the court to close

um to resent the presumption of openness

a party-seek enclosure has to

demonstrate that closure is essential to

preserve higher values or a compelling

interest uh and that closure is narrowly

tailored to serve that interest

so before closing a proceeding a Child

Court must exhaust all reasonable

alternatives to closure and to make

specific findings detailing the need for

it

also looking at uh prior restraints or

so-called gag orders similarly very high

burden uh the U.S Supreme Court and

Vermont courts agree gag orders are

extremely disfavored uh the Supreme

Court of the U.S have actually said that

prior restraints on speech and

publication are the most serious and the

least tolerable infringement on First

Amendment rights and are presumed to be

unconstitutional

Vermont courts agree

um in a case where they actually

rescinded a prior restraint order they

held that these orders were

inappropriate except under the most

extreme and compelling circumstances and

that any order must be narrowly tailored

to cover only the improper disclosure

that would occur in the absence of an

order so a very high bar to clear

so now that you've made it into the

courtroom uh let's talk a little bit

about you know the reporting rights that

you have once you are there I actually

the courts in Vermont recently adopted

um some new rules related to this

specifically rule 79.2

um that covers uh possession and use of

recording devices in a courtroom and

they divide uh sort of attendees into

different categories there's different

rights that attach if you're member of

the media if you are a participant or

like a party or if you're just a

non-participant non-media who's there to

observe

and so these rules apply in both the

civil and criminal context on the slide

the language is taken from the Civil

rules specifically

uh and this states that for the media uh

media obtain a permanent or a one-time

registration certificate that allows

them to orally and Visually record and

transmit uh when they're in the

courtroom the rule also includes how you

get that certificate it's not supposed

to be difficult at all uh the rule also

has a section that discusses um if there

are multiple media present who want to

record there can be an area that's

specified for them and they sort of have

to Duke it out amongst themselves how

they want to pool coverage at that point

there are also rules for parties and for

non-participants generally a

non-participant member of the public

they can possess the device but their

use is much more limited but all those

are specified in that rule 79.2

um so overall in terms of access there's

this really strong and Court recognized

societal interest in public trials uh

the second circuit which is the federal

court that covers Vermont has explicitly

stated that openness and Court

proceedings May improve the quality of

testimony induce unknown witnesses to

come forward with relevant testimony

cause all child participants to perform

their duties more conscientiously and

generally give the public an opportunity

to observe the judicial system so this

presumption of access is recognized as

an incredibly important rights that

benefits not only the child itself but

also Society at large and now I'm going

to hand hand it over to Harry to be

covering uh court records specifically

thanks so much Hillary really appreciate

it and thanks Emily thanks Justin the

rest of defect for having us here today

um we're really thrilled to talk to you

all so Hillary has given you a

comprehensive overview of the types of

Courts and the way that the court system

works here in Vermont I'm going to talk

very generally about court records and

essentially how to think about access to

court records there are a number of

exceptions and details for specific

records much like the public records act

and so what we're hoping to cover today

is just a very high level overview of

sort of how you should go about thinking

about whether or not a particular type

of record is publicly accessible where

you might go who you might ask to get

that record

so in terms of just the background rule

much like the public access to court

proceedings themselves citizens have a

constitutional and common law right of

access to court records that derives

from the same case that Hillary just

talked about

interestingly

in the way that that right is

effectuated it's not actually

effectuated by Statute but by something

called the Vermont rules for public

access to court records and that's a

comprehensive set of rules of access to

court records that's created by the

Vermont Supreme Court

what's important to note here is that

this is not actually covered by

Vermont's public records act which is a

little bit confusing because for those

of you that are familiar with the text

of the act the ACT actually says it

applies to any branch of Vermont

government of course the Judiciary is a

branch but the Vermont Supreme Court has

made clear that the Vermont rules for

public access to court records is

actually the authority that that governs

access to court records and so for any

specific question or any particular type

of record that you're seeking the place

to look if you can is within the Vermont

rules for public access to Port records

themselves

in terms of background presumptions and

background rules the bottom line policy

in general is that court records should

be open to any member of the public for

inspection or to obtain copies what that

means is that any member of the public

can show up and request access to a

publicly accessible court record without

showing identification and without

showing a particular need for the record

as we'll talk about in a minute Public

Access is not necessarily synonymous

with the ability to obtain a record

anywhere remotely but it's a question of

who essentially has a right to seek the

underlying records themselves and the

answer is that absent a particular

provision or a particular rule

saying that those records are not

available any member of the public

shall be allowed to access a record for

an inspection or to obtain copies and if

you're wondering what types of records

are publicly accessible versus which

records representatively withheld the

good

news is that essentially that tracks the

rules that Hillary was just talking

about and so if you have access to a

proceeding you almost certainly have

access to a record of that proceeding

and so the rules are essentially the

same if you can be in a courtroom to

witness a particular event or a

particular proceeding you should be able

to obtain records from that proceeding

we can move to the next slide please

again there are exceptions to this

presumptive access some of this tracks

very closely the types of proceedings

which are not public so as Hillary

talked about these are juvenile

proceedings these are grand jury

proceedings in addition there's a couple

of very particular subject matter areas

which are essentially walled off from

public access this includes essentially

any proceeding about mental health or

competency as well as attorney

discipline

in addition there are particular types

of information that if they appear in a

record that is otherwise

public

there's a duty to redact that

information and so folks are probably

familiar with these categories of

information from Freedom of Information

Acts or public records act these are

things like personal identify

identifiers for juveniles

Social Security numbers passport numbers

and the like and so even if you have

access to a particular record

the court administrator has the right

and in fact the duty to redact that

information before providing that record

for inspection or for copying

next slide please

all right so now that we we've talked a

little bit about what kinds of records

are uh accessible how do you actually go

about getting them and if you want a

physical record and sort of where the

underlying original resides is with the

custodian and the quarter office where

the record was filed so this means that

going back to what Hillary was talking

about earlier for any particular case

the first thing to find out is what kind

of court was this filed in and where

geographically was it filed that's where

the original record is going to be and

if you want a physical copy that's the

place to go

the custodian is almost always the clerk

of the court which means that they're

open for for business hours

uh any time that the court is open and

you just go to the clerk's office as if

you were filing a complaint or you're

filing an action and you request public

access to a particular record

the one kind of a large exception which

I think is it's actually a bonus for

tracking down particular records is that

a number of older records usually reside

with the Vermont state archives almost

anything from pre-1945 is likely to be

there uh and without

involuntarily signing up a number of

State archivists for

um

to assist with any records requests my

personal experience is that in general

they've been extremely enthusiastic very

helpful and are just subject matter

experts in terms of where particular

records might reside so for anything

older or anything a little bit unusual

uh if you call up the Vermont state

archives and you speak to an archivist

they can probably tell you whether or

not that record exists in estate

archives or where you might go about

filing it

in terms of accessing physical records

you can do it anytime that the court is

open and that applies equally to civil

and criminal records so any record in

which you might be able to sit in a

proceeding and you have presumptive

right of access you can get that

physical record from the clerk of court

next slide please Laurie

thanks so much and so now I want to talk

a little bit about electronic records

and I think what's critical here is that

there's a difference in terms of the way

that the rules talk about electronic

records and remote access to particular

dockets so I think when most of us think

about

electronic access to court records we

think of something like the federal

Pacer the public access to court

electronic records which means that you

or I sitting at home in front of an

Internet uh connection

can essentially log on and view these

records uh as if we are there in person

and that's not actually the case in

Vermont uh in terms of civil dockets any

of those can be accessed remotely so you

can go to something called Odyssey which

is essentially Vermont's equivalent of

Pacer and you can look at any docket for

a civil case under Odyssey but for

criminal dockets you can't actually

access that information remotely instead

you can access it electronically which

means you can access it at a public

access terminal in a courthouse and the

difference between a public access

terminal and courthouse and actually

going to physically inspect the record

from the clerk's office is that any one

Public Access terminal in one courthouse

is connected to the electronic records

at others and so for example if I wanted

a particular criminal record in say

Windsor County I could go to a public

access terminal in Chittenden County and

get that information but unfortunately

none of that information is available

remotely in the same way that it is on

Pacer so in terms of just rules of thumb

civil dockets you can access them

remotely anywhere criminal dockets you

should probably plan on going to a

courthouse and finding a public access

terminal if you're not going to go to

the courthouse in which the case was

filed

next slide please

all right so what what happens once you

actually get there uh as I mentioned

anyone can expect the records free of

charge but if you want to take a copy

home and you need staff time to help

find a record

you may have to pay for that and those

fees and those fee Provisions are

borrowed from the public records Act

if you're seeking a record and either

the custodian won't won't give you the

record or a Dax part of the record that

you think has been unlawfully withheld

you have seven days to appeal at and

what you do is you essentially file a

piece of paper with the presiding judge

of the court in which the case was filed

so that means even if you're looking at

the record in a different County you

want to be filing that appeal in the

county in which the record the physical

record is held if you're dissatisfied

with the way that the presiding judge

handles that appeal you then have 30

days to file an action with the Vermont

Supreme Court

Harrison and Hillary I want to thank you

so much for giving us a great walk

through a general overview of the state

court system and uh yeah thanks to

everybody who tuned in live uh I

appreciate it

thanks so much happy to be here all

right thank you guys thanks again