Below is an excerpt from a court report sent to NewsLanc.
By “odd”, we mean people who question authority, whatever be their motivations.
While some would call them “eccentric” and other use a less respectful term, they are the sentinels of liberty.
We believe Judge Braxton is praiseworthy for the respectful and thoughtful manner he handled their objections and the decision he made.
Why should anyone, reporter or otherwise, be precluded from taking notes in a court room? Furthermore, we would the public be prohibited from recording the procedures? We can only see how justice can be furthered by the public having a record of what transpired.
1 IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
2 CIVIL
3
——————————–:
4 :
COUNTY OF LANCASTER :
5 :
vs. : No. CI-10-00631
6 :
BENNETT VONDERHEIDE :
7 :
——————————–:
8
9
EXCERPT OF PROCEEDINGS
10
11 Before: HONORABLE JOHN L. BRAXTON, JUDGE
12
Date : March 1, 2011
13
14 Place : Courtroom No. 12
50 North Duke Street
15 Lancaster, Pennsylvania
16
17 APPEARANCES:
18 NICOLE M. DECKER, ESQUIRE
Assistant County Solicitor
19 150 North Queen Street – Suite 174
Lancaster, PA 17603
20 For – The County of Lancaster
21 MICHAEL DALEY, ESQUIRE
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
22 Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts
1515 Market Street – Suite 1414
23 Philadelphia, PA 19102
24 BENNETT VONDERHEIDE – Pro Se
25
2
1 *************************
2 MR. VONDERHEIDE: If this is the way they
3 want to have it, that’s fine, but Scott Martin made the
4 decision or was part of the decision not to give me the
5 film. I have a right to ask him why he’s afraid for the
6 judges; why he’s not afraid when he has a commissioners’
7 meeting every week.
8 MR. RON HARPER: Your Honor, I —
9 THE COURT: Wait. Stand up. Sir, stand up.
10 What are you doing?
11 MR. HARPER: Sir, my name is Ron Harper, Jr.
12 I’m here taking notes. This sheriff deputy is right now
13 intimidating me, telling me I’m going to be taken out of
14 the courtroom if I don’t give this thing up. I’m not
15 allowed to take notes in your courtroom, sir?
16 THE COURT: Hold it a second. Have a seat.
17 Sheriff, what was the issue?
18 DEPUTY SHERIFF: He is not permitted to take
19 notes. He is not an officer of the Court. I said I
20 will take his note pad and his pen because he is not
21 allowed to take notes.
22 MR. VONDERHEIDE: That’s absurd.
23 DEPUTY SHERIFF: I did not say —
24 THE COURT: Have a seat. Have a seat.
25 DEPUTY SHERIFF: That is our policy.
3
1 Attorneys are allowed to take notes, but people in the
2 back are not allowed to take notes. That’s our policy.
3 I just asked him for his pen and paper.
4 THE COURT: Thank you, Sheriff.
5 Let me ask the city solicitor. You are the
6 county solicitor. What is the procedure in this county
7 with regard to the public taking notes?
8 MS. DECKER: Your Honor, I’m actually not
9 familiar with that. That would be a policy of the
10 Sheriff’s Office. I can confer with Sheriff Reese.
11 THE COURT: Okay, why don’t you confer with
12 the Sheriff, please.
13 SHERIFF REESE: Good morning, Your Honor.
14 THE COURT: Good morning, Sheriff.
15 SHERIFF REESE: It’s pretty much an
16 unwritten policy that the judges have made that no note
17 taking is allowed in the courtroom. But Your Honor can
18 absolutely make that decision that notes are allowed to
19 be taken.
20 THE COURT: Have a seat.
21 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I object to this.
22 THE COURT: Have a seat.
23 MR. VONDERHEIDE: And I just want you to
24 know that —
25 THE COURT: You are objecting my to finding
4
1 out what’s going on in my courtroom? Stand up now.
2 MR. VONDERHEIDE: No, I object to any policy
3 which bars reporters from taking notes in the back of
4 the courtroom.
5 THE COURT: Have a seat.
6 MR. HARPER: Your Honor?
7 THE COURT: Just a second. Sheriff, were
8 you finished?
9 SHERIFF REESE: Yes, sir, it’s up to you.
10 THE COURT: I understand. My discretion.
11 Now, the reporter, state your name, sir.
12 MR. HARPER: My name is Ron Harper, Jr.
13 THE COURT: Okay.
14 MR. HARPER: For over a dozen years, I have
15 been an active court watcher. I can tell you, as he has
16 noted, the, quote, unwritten rules is really
17 essentially — what it is is an ad hoc way for a sheriff
18 deputy to intimidate and otherwise intimidate anyone
19 coming into this courtroom.
20 You will notice that we sit in the back of
21 your courtroom, sir. And the reason why —
22 THE COURT: That’s the public gallery.
23 That’s why you are there, I can tell you that.
24 MR. HARPER: Sir, sir, you will notice the
25 bar, as it’s called, is right up here. But yet you are
5
1 not allowed — the general public can’t sit here. But
2 you know what these sheriff deputies will do?
3 THE COURT: No, we are not talking about
4 everything that’s done. I’m only talking about what
5 happened here.
6 MR. HARPER: They will let people walk and
7 sit down and then say, hey, you can’t sit there, rather
8 than say, hey, please, you are welcome to sit in the
9 back row. That’s what normal — but she comes over
10 here. I want to write down something that I think is
11 pertinent to what’s being said that I want to say, and
12 I’m being intimidated.
13 She’s telling the Sheriff. I have been
14 thrown out of this very courtroom — not this court,
15 Courtroom No. 3, so many times I don’t even know how
16 many.
17 THE COURT: Let me say this. I don’t want
18 to be blinded by what you have had in other courtrooms.
19 So you are asking this Court — and I’m Judge John
20 Braxton, who rules this Court this day, based upon the
21 authority given to me by the Constitution of the State
22 of Pennsylvania.
23 I’m going to give you permission to sit in
24 my room, and you can take any notes you want to take
25 under my direction, meaning I’m allowing it to take
6
1 place here. It has no bearing on any other courtroom of
2 this courthouse. But while I’m sitting here and you are
3 sitting there, you may take notes.
4 Sheriff, do we have his pen or does he have
5 it?
6 DEPUTY SHERIFF: No, he has it.
7 THE COURT: Okay. So that sheriff is not
8 intimidating you, and I have granted you permission to
9 take whatever notes you want to take.
10 MR. HARPER: Can you call off the attack
11 dogs so that —
12 THE COURT: Wait a minute. Stand up. Stand
13 up.
14 MR. HARPER: Sir —
15 THE COURT: Now, just a second. Listen
16 closely. If you want to remain in my courtroom, you
17 don’t call my staff by any names. She is not anything
18 other than a sheriff in this county that’s been assigned
19 to Judge Braxton today. Is that clear?
20 MR. HARPER: I —
21 THE COURT: If you have a problem with that,
22 I can give you your freedom to leave.
23 MR. HARPER: Sir, I have heard what you
24 said.
25 THE COURT: I will not allow you to call my
7
1 people any names. Do you understand that?
2 MR. HARPER: I’m not calling your people,
3 quote, unquote, any names in this courtroom.
4 THE COURT: Have a seat. Good. And as long
5 as you abide by my rules, you will be allowed to remain
6 in my courtroom.
7 The people that are on my staff — I have
8 two sheriffs, take a look at them. I have a court
9 bailiff here, and I have a stenographer here, and I have
10 a law clerk over here. And I have two attorneys here
11 and one pro se party here.
12 These are the people that are on my team
13 this day, and they are working with me. And it is my
14 responsibility to govern this space on this day.
15 I’m going to allow you to remain here with
16 us. You may take your notes. And you may enjoy the
17 proceedings as you see fit and come and go as you see
18 fit or need. Is that clear?
19 MR. HARPER: Certainly.
20 THE COURT: You are welcome. Have a seat.
21 Now, Mr. Vonderheide?
22 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I find it very unfortunate
23 and I feel very disadvantaged by you calling the
24 sheriff’s deputies your people when they are one of the
25 parties and they are the primary party against me in
8
1 this.
2 I would prefer that you would have stood up
3 for the rights of this independent reporter as someone
4 who swore to uphold the Constitution and say, you,
5 before you enforce any more of those kinds of unwritten
6 rules, check with me first before you are considering
7 putting your hands on a citizen or investigative
8 reporter, a free man in this country and this state.
9 Before you try any more of your shenanigans here, my
10 people, since I am responsible for you, put a stop to
11 that. And Mark Reese, if you got any more little tricks
12 you are going to pull, let me know before you do that.
13 That’s what I would have preferred because I
14 don’t feel that —
15 THE COURT: Mr. Vonderheide, you get one
16 thing straight.
17 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I don’t feel equal.
18 THE COURT: The people who work in this
19 courtroom are on my team. I don’t control them, but in
20 this room I give the orders. And that’s what I’m
21 talking about being on my team. And I included you as
22 being on my team, too, did you hear that?
23 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I heard you.
24 THE COURT: You didn’t object to that
25 though, did you?
9
1 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I heard you come back and
2 restate it that way. But I got it right off the bat
3 that you are standing up for the sheriff’s deputy, who
4 is in the wrong.
5 THE COURT: I will be the judge of —
6 MR. VONDERHEIDE: That man is in the right.
7 THE COURT: In your mind he may be in the
8 right. Listen closely. In this courtroom, they are
9 abiding by the rules of this county that I may not be
10 fully aware of. Make sure you understand that.
11 But as I become aware of the rules and what
12 I can do to either accept or to modify those rules, I
13 will do what I deem to be appropriate.
14 And you heard my ruling, so you should just
15 accept it and move on because there’s nothing to argue
16 about.
17 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Very well.
18 THE COURT: But understand something. The
19 two sheriffs in the back of this room, you, and those
20 counsel are part of my team.
21 We are here trying to do what I am
22 authorized to do by the Supreme Court of the
23 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And I’m going to do my
24 job, and I’m going to respect the other people that are
25 here as well. But I’m calling the people in this room,
10
1 those who are doing specific tasks, they are on my team.
2 And they are going to abide by the rules that we are
3 sworn to enforce.
4 And I recognize you as a pro se litigant.
5 You are representing yourself, and I am holding you to
6 the same standards that I hold lawyers to. I don’t
7 expect you to know as much as they know, but your
8 behavior has to be the same.
9 Now, you can take any side you want outside
10 this courtroom, but I’ll determine whose behavior is
11 acceptable and whose behavior is what I define to be
12 unacceptable to this Court and may subject someone to
13 ejection from this courtroom.
14 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Well, thank you. But I
15 would like to quote Judge John Braxton from the last
16 time he appeared in Lancaster County.
17 THE COURT: Quote him.
18 MR. VONDERHEIDE: He told me, he said that
19 sheriff’s deputies have two jobs. One job is to
20 maintain order in court. The other job is to maintain
21 those who are under confines of whatever form —
22 THE COURT: Taken into custody.
23 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Taken into custody.
24 I would say to you that what we just
25 witnessed doesn’t fall under any of those. And your
11
1 condoning and accepting it is not helpful to the public.
2 But it is helpful to, once again, the people who have
3 taken over the courthouses for their own benefits and
4 play their own little games with the rules. And they
5 have unwritten rules.
6 THE COURT: My problem with what you have
7 said is that you’ve got a blinder on because I did, in
8 fact, give the individual who raised an issue with the
9 Court the right to continue a practice which may be
10 deemed in other courtrooms to be unacceptable behavior.
11 You didn’t comment on that though, did you?
12 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I got that, but you chided
13 him for calling her an attack dog. And I think her
14 behavior when I looked back was very much like an attack
15 dog. And if you were in his position and if you’d been
16 in my position enough times, you would feel it’s like an
17 attack dog coming on to you. He’s setting upon you,
18 intimidating you and pushing you with no legitimate
19 rights because of some unwritten rules. And we’ve had
20 this for years. This is why we’re here.
21 THE COURT: Counsel, you need to understand
22 something. I didn’t see the sheriff tune him up. You
23 know what those terms mean?
24 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Yes.
25 THE COURT: I know what it means as well.
12
1 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I saw her leaning over him
2 with her full body.
3 THE COURT: Oh, please.
4 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Within two foot of his
5 face. That’s not necessary.
6 THE COURT: You were using the eyes behind
7 your head to see that because I was observing the
8 behavior. You didn’t know what was really going on
9 until after it went down.
10 MR. VONDERHEIDE: No, not until I turned
11 around.
12 THE COURT: That is correct. So therefore
13 for you to say —
14 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Leaning over him,
15 demanding that he turn over a piece of something that he
16 holds in his hand, something a free man holds in his
17 hand, his pen. His pen. A reporter’s pen. Is that
18 symbolic?
19 THE COURT: Listen, let’s get to the issues
20 of the day because we are not going to get there with
21 this, but I want you to understand.
22 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I’m done.
23 THE COURT: So you know and the record is
24 clear, I don’t deem any of the behavior of the sheriff
25 in this matter to be inappropriate. Do you understand
13
1 that?
2 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I understand.
3 THE COURT: In my courtroom she was adhering
4 to the rules and practices of this county, to which I
5 told you this Court was not totally familiar. But when
6 I did become familiar, I ruled and used the authority I
7 had.
8 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Well, thank you. If you
9 ever become fully familiar with these unwritten rules, I
10 would certainly love to be enlightened before they are
11 enacted upon me from out of the blue every time I am
12 walking through the courthouse. And I’m sure others
13 would appreciate that knowledge, too, which is something
14 I have requested for years.
15 Just tell us in writing what we are allowed
16 to do and what we aren’t. That would be much too easy.
17 Can’t really wield that club as freely.
18 THE COURT: Now we’re going back to the
19 issue of Commissioner Scott Martin.
20 *******************
21 (End of excerpt)
22
1 not allowed — the general public can’t sit here. But
2 you know what these sheriff deputies will do?
3 THE COURT: No, we are not talking about
4 everything that’s done. I’m only talking about what
5 happened here.
6 MR. HARPER: They will let people walk and
7 sit down and then say, hey, you can’t sit there, rather
8 than say, hey, please, you are welcome to sit in the
9 back row. That’s what normal — but she comes over
10 here. I want to write down something that I think is
11 pertinent to what’s being said that I want to say, and
12 I’m being intimidated.
13 She’s telling the Sheriff. I have been
14 thrown out of this very courtroom — not this court,
15 Courtroom No. 3, so many times I don’t even know how
16 many.
17 THE COURT: Let me say this. I don’t want
18 to be blinded by what you have had in other courtrooms.
19 So you are asking this Court — and I’m Judge John
20 Braxton, who rules this Court this day, based upon the
21 authority given to me by the Constitution of the State
22 of Pennsylvania.
23 I’m going to give you permission to sit in
24 my room, and you can take any notes you want to take
25 under my direction, meaning I’m allowing it to take
6
1 place here. It has no bearing on any other courtroom of
2 this courthouse. But while I’m sitting here and you are
3 sitting there, you may take notes.
4 Sheriff, do we have his pen or does he have
5 it?
6 DEPUTY SHERIFF: No, he has it.
7 THE COURT: Okay. So that sheriff is not
8 intimidating you, and I have granted you permission to
9 take whatever notes you want to take.
10 MR. HARPER: Can you call off the attack
11 dogs so that —
12 THE COURT: Wait a minute. Stand up. Stand
13 up.
14 MR. HARPER: Sir —
15 THE COURT: Now, just a second. Listen
16 closely. If you want to remain in my courtroom, you
17 don’t call my staff by any names. She is not anything
18 other than a sheriff in this county that’s been assigned
19 to Judge Braxton today. Is that clear?
20 MR. HARPER: I —
21 THE COURT: If you have a problem with that,
22 I can give you your freedom to leave.
23 MR. HARPER: Sir, I have heard what you
24 said.
25 THE COURT: I will not allow you to call my
7
1 people any names. Do you understand that?
2 MR. HARPER: I’m not calling your people,
3 quote, unquote, any names in this courtroom.
4 THE COURT: Have a seat. Good. And as long
5 as you abide by my rules, you will be allowed to remain
6 in my courtroom.
7 The people that are on my staff — I have
8 two sheriffs, take a look at them. I have a court
9 bailiff here, and I have a stenographer here, and I have
10 a law clerk over here. And I have two attorneys here
11 and one pro se party here.
12 These are the people that are on my team
13 this day, and they are working with me. And it is my
14 responsibility to govern this space on this day.
15 I’m going to allow you to remain here with
16 us. You may take your notes. And you may enjoy the
17 proceedings as you see fit and come and go as you see
18 fit or need. Is that clear?
19 MR. HARPER: Certainly.
20 THE COURT: You are welcome. Have a seat.
21 Now, Mr. Vonderheide?
22 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I find it very unfortunate
23 and I feel very disadvantaged by you calling the
24 sheriff’s deputies your people when they are one of the
25 parties and they are the primary party against me in
8
1 this.
2 I would prefer that you would have stood up
3 for the rights of this independent reporter as someone
4 who swore to uphold the Constitution and say, you,
5 before you enforce any more of those kinds of unwritten
6 rules, check with me first before you are considering
7 putting your hands on a citizen or investigative
8 reporter, a free man in this country and this state.
9 Before you try any more of your shenanigans here, my
10 people, since I am responsible for you, put a stop to
11 that. And Mark Reese, if you got any more little tricks
12 you are going to pull, let me know before you do that.
13 That’s what I would have preferred because I
14 don’t feel that —
15 THE COURT: Mr. Vonderheide, you get one
16 thing straight.
17 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I don’t feel equal.
18 THE COURT: The people who work in this
19 courtroom are on my team. I don’t control them, but in
20 this room I give the orders. And that’s what I’m
21 talking about being on my team. And I included you as
22 being on my team, too, did you hear that?
23 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I heard you.
24 THE COURT: You didn’t object to that
25 though, did you?
9
1 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I heard you come back and
2 restate it that way. But I got it right off the bat
3 that you are standing up for the sheriff’s deputy, who
4 is in the wrong.
5 THE COURT: I will be the judge of —
6 MR. VONDERHEIDE: That man is in the right.
7 THE COURT: In your mind he may be in the
8 right. Listen closely. In this courtroom, they are
9 abiding by the rules of this county that I may not be
10 fully aware of. Make sure you understand that.
11 But as I become aware of the rules and what
12 I can do to either accept or to modify those rules, I
13 will do what I deem to be appropriate.
14 And you heard my ruling, so you should just
15 accept it and move on because there’s nothing to argue
16 about.
17 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Very well.
18 THE COURT: But understand something. The
19 two sheriffs in the back of this room, you, and those
20 counsel are part of my team.
21 We are here trying to do what I am
22 authorized to do by the Supreme Court of the
23 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And I’m going to do my
24 job, and I’m going to respect the other people that are
25 here as well. But I’m calling the people in this room,
10
1 those who are doing specific tasks, they are on my team.
2 And they are going to abide by the rules that we are
3 sworn to enforce.
4 And I recognize you as a pro se litigant.
5 You are representing yourself, and I am holding you to
6 the same standards that I hold lawyers to. I don’t
7 expect you to know as much as they know, but your
8 behavior has to be the same.
9 Now, you can take any side you want outside
10 this courtroom, but I’ll determine whose behavior is
11 acceptable and whose behavior is what I define to be
12 unacceptable to this Court and may subject someone to
13 ejection from this courtroom.
14 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Well, thank you. But I
15 would like to quote Judge John Braxton from the last
16 time he appeared in Lancaster County.
17 THE COURT: Quote him.
18 MR. VONDERHEIDE: He told me, he said that
19 sheriff’s deputies have two jobs. One job is to
20 maintain order in court. The other job is to maintain
21 those who are under confines of whatever form —
22 THE COURT: Taken into custody.
23 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Taken into custody.
24 I would say to you that what we just
25 witnessed doesn’t fall under any of those. And your
11
1 condoning and accepting it is not helpful to the public.
2 But it is helpful to, once again, the people who have
3 taken over the courthouses for their own benefits and
4 play their own little games with the rules. And they
5 have unwritten rules.
6 THE COURT: My problem with what you have
7 said is that you’ve got a blinder on because I did, in
8 fact, give the individual who raised an issue with the
9 Court the right to continue a practice which may be
10 deemed in other courtrooms to be unacceptable behavior.
11 You didn’t comment on that though, did you?
12 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I got that, but you chided
13 him for calling her an attack dog. And I think her
14 behavior when I looked back was very much like an attack
15 dog. And if you were in his position and if you’d been
16 in my position enough times, you would feel it’s like an
17 attack dog coming on to you. He’s setting upon you,
18 intimidating you and pushing you with no legitimate
19 rights because of some unwritten rules. And we’ve had
20 this for years. This is why we’re here.
21 THE COURT: Counsel, you need to understand
22 something. I didn’t see the sheriff tune him up. You
23 know what those terms mean?
24 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Yes.
25 THE COURT: I know what it means as well.
12
1 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I saw her leaning over him
2 with her full body.
3 THE COURT: Oh, please.
4 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Within two foot of his
5 face. That’s not necessary.
6 THE COURT: You were using the eyes behind
7 your head to see that because I was observing the
8 behavior. You didn’t know what was really going on
9 until after it went down.
10 MR. VONDERHEIDE: No, not until I turned
11 around.
12 THE COURT: That is correct. So therefore
13 for you to say —
14 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Leaning over him,
15 demanding that he turn over a piece of something that he
16 holds in his hand, something a free man holds in his
17 hand, his pen. His pen. A reporter’s pen. Is that
18 symbolic?
19 THE COURT: Listen, let’s get to the issues
20 of the day because we are not going to get there with
21 this, but I want you to understand.
22 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I’m done.
23 THE COURT: So you know and the record is
24 clear, I don’t deem any of the behavior of the sheriff
25 in this matter to be inappropriate. Do you understand
13
1 that?
2 MR. VONDERHEIDE: I understand.
3 THE COURT: In my courtroom she was adhering
4 to the rules and practices of this county, to which I
5 told you this Court was not totally familiar. But when
6 I did become familiar, I ruled and used the authority I
7 had.
8 MR. VONDERHEIDE: Well, thank you. If you
9 ever become fully familiar with these unwritten rules, I
10 would certainly love to be enlightened before they are
11 enacted upon me from out of the blue every time I am
12 walking through the courthouse. And I’m sure others
13 would appreciate that knowledge, too, which is something
14 I have requested for years.
15 Just tell us in writing what we are allowed
16 to do and what we aren’t. That would be much too easy.
17 Can’t really wield that club as freely.
18 THE COURT: Now we’re going back to the
19 issue of Commissioner Scott Martin.
20 *******************
21 (End of excerpt)
Thank you for covering this.
It is fantastic to know wisdom and freedom still motivate media in Lancaster (at least here).
Ben