A judge in Florida used a Quest 2 VR headset to view a recreation of events in which a defendant pulled a gun out at a wedding.
Miami news outlet WPLG Local 10 reports that the VR headsets were brought into the courtroom during a stand-your-ground hearing last week. The defense team in the case commissioned an artist to make an animation depicting events meant to represent the defendant’s perspective, with a segment of the animation formatted for VR headsets and viewed in the courtroom.
“Virtual reality shows the jury and the judge exactly the position my client was in when he was surrounded and grabbed and had his life in jeopardy, and at that moment he had to defend himself by pulling out that firearm,” claimed attorney Ken Padowitz in a phone call with UploadVR this week.
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WPLG Local 10’s coverage of the use of VR in this case.
Padowitz believes the use of VR headsets in the case is a first, though you can contact us with details of other examples of the technology being used previously (in actual courtrooms, rather than on Star Trek).
In the Florida case, a video circulated in local media and online depicts one view from the night the defendant was arrested. Padowitz wants to show the jury another perspective via a VR headset, should his client’s case get that far.
Legal systems differ by jurisdiction, but many courtrooms see advocates attempt to recreate a picture of events through physical props or animation to make judges or jurors feel as if they were there during the events being litigated.
Should Padowitz or another attorney succeed in putting a jury of peers in VR, we’ll be sure to dive in deep about the methodologies involved.
