April 04--Keith Hickman left his Calumet City home at 6 a.m. Monday, taking two buses to make sure he wasn't late for his court date on a burglary charge at the main Cook County courthouse at 26th Street and California Avenue in Chicago.
But at the courthouse entrance, he learned that lockers used to store cellphones had been removed . Unable to pass through security because of the courthouse ban on cellphones, he paced outside for 90 minutes, hoping his attorney could convince a judge he had actually shown up.
"This is ridiculous," said Hickman, one of dozens of visitors to the Leighton Criminal Court Building inconvenienced or worse by the new restrictions that took effect Monday. "When I leave here, I have to go to work, so I need my phone. I've got a family, I've got a life. ... When I come here, I expect to be treated like a human being."
The county Department of Facilities Management concluded the lockers were too costly to maintain and posed a security risk, according to the chief judge's office.
Some desperate defendants paid $2 to store their cellphones in a food truck out front or even trusted strangers to hold their phone while they went to court.
"Can you please just hold this while I pee?" one woman said while asking a sheriff's official to hold her cellphone so she could pass through security and use the courthouse restroom.
The cellphone ban was put into effect at 26th and California in 2013 after judges complained that visitors were illegally using their smartphones to take photos and videos of courtroom proceedings in violation of rules, the chief judge's office said.
It is the only large criminal courthouse in Chicago that generally bans cellphones.
sschmadeke@tribpub.com
