The Colorado Supreme Court will allow ABC to eavesdrop on Colorado trials.

"The Colorado Supreme Court has granted ABC News unprecedented media access to the workings of Colorado criminal trials, including jury deliberations."

"In the next few months, ABC's "State v." program hopes to begin filming as many as six Colorado criminal cases that will be aired up to a year after juries return their verdicts. "State v." is a television program that offers a behind- the-scenes look at actual criminal cases from trial preparation through the final verdict."

"The state high court has given "State v." permission to go behind the scenes and film testimony, jury reaction, jury deliberations, and discussions of trial strategy by prosecutors and defense attorneys."

All participants appear very excited about this idea--except for Colorado's Public Defender, David Kaplan, who says his office will not participate.

"My bottom line to them was that I did not see the potential benefit to our representation from allowing them to do it. And my gut reaction is if there is a potential to compromise our effective representation, then the rule should be, 'Don't go there,"' Kaplan said.

"He is concerned about the attorney-client privilege that exists between his lawyers and the accused. Lawyers need a relationship with clients and witnesses that maximizes candor and decreases awkwardness, he said."

Admittedly, we haven't seen the predecessor shows, filmed in Arizona, which even Kaplan praises, but we aren't keen on the idea. We laid out our concerns last week on a similar proposal by Frontline to film an entire trial, including jury deliberations, in a capital case in Texas.

The Colorado project will require assent by the defendant as well as his or her lawyer. In addition, prosecutors, victims, jurors and judges will have to agree. We understand why the Court is in favor of it-- for public education purposes--but like Kaplan, we fail to see the benefit to the defense--particularly of allowing camera access to private attorney-client conversations and strategy sessions.

Update: This editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle, To Peer Inside the Jury Room, also opposes cameras in the jury room. And don't miss this poignant commentary by a former juror who says cameras in the jury room during the deliberations in his case would have prevented the jury's guilty verdict.