FAYETTEVILLE — A 2009 transcript of an exchange between Judge Mary Ann Gunn and a drug court participant raises questions about Gunn’s assurances court participants could opt out of having their cases televised.
Gunn, in defending the regular broadcast of drug court proceedings on a local cable channel, testified to a state committee in March that any participant who opposed having their drug court hearings televised could make the request.
In the state review of Gunn’s practice of broadcasting drug court, Gunn stressed only defendants who wanted to be televised were included on the locally-broadcast program.
Web Watch
To read the transcript of the exchange between Watkins and Gunn, visit nwaonline.com/gunntranscript
A lawsuit filed against Jones Television, which formerly broadcast drug court, allege at least two defendants were put on TV without their permission, or were coerced into appearing on the program.
With the premiere of the now-retired Gunn’s TV reality show based on drug court one month away, the transcript demonstrates at least in one case, participation in the television show appeared to be the judge’s decision, not that of the participant.
In the Dec. 21, 2009, hearing, Sharina Watkins, a Springdale woman who had been in rehabilitation-oriented drug court for more than a year, was called before Gunn to discuss her objection to appearing on TV. Springdale-based Jones Television aired videotaped drug court proceedings between 2004 and 2010.
Mike Gilbert, chief operating officer of the Jones Trust, said defendants were required to submit a release to the television station before appearing on camera. He declined to provide a copy of that release Friday, saying he needed to consult with Jones Television’s lawyer.
Current drug court officials, in response to a request, provided a medical information release that drug court participants must sign. That release indicates the medical information will be provided to prosecutors and defense attorneys, and may be discussed in television broadcasts.
It was unclear Friday whether Gilbert and drug court officials were referencing the same release.
Gunn said the Jones Television cameraman had a docket in each court session telling him who could appear on camera and who he was not to tape.
Gunn has held that the decision to be broadcast was up to each defendant, with more than half having no objection. She has said not appearing on television did not affect how participants were treated in her court.
Watkins’ hearing occurred after Watkins called Jones Television to ask her segment not be shown anymore.
“Well, it’s ultimately my decision who is on — when we televise, who’s on TV and who’s not,” Gunn is says in the court transcript of the hearing.
Gilbert confirmed that on at least one occasion, an episode was pulled after someone said they were not supposed to be on TV.
Gunn, in the 2009 hearing, told Watkins she overstepped her bounds and threatened, as a result, to terminate Watkins from the drug court program and send her to jail. At the end of the hearing, Gunn said it was the “order of the court” to set Watkins for termination the next month.
“It will be my decision whether or not you are televised,” Gunn said, according to the transcript. “Now don’t you dare call ... any other organization, nonprofit organization that works with the drug court program. ... Don’t you call them. Don’t you talk to them. Don’t you call Altrusa or the schools or anyone else. It is not your place.”
Gunn did not go through with her threat, and Watkins eventually graduated from the program July 25, 2011, after Circuit Judge G. Chadd Mason took over Gunn’s seat. Gunn resigned in June to pursue a for-profit television show about drug court defendants in Arkansas.
Watkins’ phone number is not listed, and she did not respond to an email seeking comment on her time in drug court.
Gunn this week acknowledged she told Watkins it was the judge’s decision about who appeared on TV. She attributed that to losing her temper with Watkins, who Gunn described as a difficult defendant who changed her mind several times about wanting to be on television.
“I shouldn’t have said that to her, I really shouldn’t have,” Gunn said. “I wanted the focus to be on her and not her complaints.”
Gunn said she made the decision after the hearing on Dec. 21, 2009, to not record any more of Watkins’ hearings.
The former judge said she does not think she made similar comments in any other hearings.
Gunn said that she never directly spoke with defendants about appearing on camera, leaving that up to Jones Television and the drug court treatment team. She noted no one ever made a timely objection to appearing on the show.
“Every one of those people were represented by a lawyer, whether they had a private attorney or a public defender,” Gunn said.
The transcript of the Watkins hearing was first posted online Aug. 18 by Max Brantley, online editor of the Arkansas Times in Little Rock and a vocal critic of Gunn’s televised hearings, as well as her upcoming show “Last Shot with Judge Gunn.”
“I’ve yet to see any demonstration that putting drug abusers on TV is a sound therapeutic practice,” said Brantley, who claims Gunn refuses to return his calls.
Gunn singled out Brantley, as well as Fayetteville attorney W.H. Taylor and Circuit Judge William Storey as a small group rushing to criticize her show without seeing it.
Gunn has described the show as focusing on rehabilitation. She says it will be more educational, and less dramatic than typical court shows such as “Judge Judy.”
Peter Brennan, creator of “Judge Judy,” is a producer of Gunn’s show.
“We’re trying to do good things for a lot of people,” Gunn said. “It’s not meant to be any type of sensationalist Hollywood production.”
The first episode of the syndicated “Last Shot with Judge Gunn” will premiere Sept. 26 in 80 percent of the country, Gunn said. The show will be broadcast on KFTA, a Fox affiliate.
Storey said he has not discussed the program with anyone and would not comment on the show without seeing it.
Taylor, who has filed a lawsuit against Jones Television and Arkansas on behalf of two drug court graduates, declined to comment.
In the lawsuit, drug court graduates William Garrison and Joshua K. Thompson ask all drug court tapes in the possession of Jones Television be turned over to the court to be sealed.
The men claim they never agreed to be filmed while in drug court and any document indicating otherwise was signed under coercion.
The lawsuit alleges some of the Jones Television footage has profited Trifecta Entertainment, the company making Gunn’s new show, when it was used to market the show.
Gilbert, the chief operating officer of the Jones Trust, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Gunn said that much of the Jones Television footage is in the public domain now, having been posted on YouTube.
The former judge called Garrison “a 100 percent joy to have in the program,” who may have only been filmed when he made a first appearance in Storey’s courtroom. She also noted that Thompson never objected to appearing on camera.
Gunn questioned whether the lawsuit was brought at the behest of Garrison and Thompson, or by their attorney, Taylor.