Live from the courtroom: Bright yellow crime scene tape was hanging from a couple of the benches in the viewing gallery this morning, just behind where Dale Hausner was seated this morning in the courtroom. It was the kind of tape you see faux-police on TV or the movies walking beneath on their way into some grisly crime scene.
The tape was there to keep spectators away from Hausner on the day when the courtroom is expected to be packed for the testimony of the star witness. But Hausner’s attorney objected to its use. Attorney Ken Everett told Judge Roland Steinle that the tape would make his client “look dangerous” to the jury. “It certainly gives a very bad impression to the jury, in my view,” he said.
Steinle agreed. So before the jury came into the courtroom, he asked a deputy to pull down the tape. Still, he asked that his staff members keep the first row behind Hausner clear for security reasons.