For many Mid-Missouri reporters, covering Tuesday morning's Alyssa Bustamante murder case hearing actually began late Monday afternoon, as we all were contacted about a possible plea agreement.
And that victim Elizabeth Olten's family was none-too-pleased with the arrangement.
As media coordinator for the Cole County Circuit Court, my reporting work for the News Tribune sometimes shares my attention with handling the media requests for using cameras and audio recording devices in a court hearing - and those requests started flowing Monday evening, as we each were trying to verify that there really was a scheduled hearing.
So I sent an e-mail to Judge Patricia Joyce and Bailiff Donny Schulte, notifying them of the reporters' interest in having cameras in the courtroom Tuesday morning, and followed that up with a phone call to Schulte.
While waiting, I told the other media's callers that I didn't know if ....
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