15 September 2010

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A $26.6 million federal grant recently awarded to a Marshfield, Mo., technology company will enhance the ability of local trial courts to manage electronic case information faster, use videoconferencing opportunities and, ultimately, join the Missouri courts’ eFiling project, Chief Justice William Ray Price Jr. announced today. The grant will help Sho-Me Technologies, which contracts with Missouri’s judiciary to provide network technology throughout the state, in its $38 million project to install and upgrade its fiber-optic broadband coverage in south-central Missouri.

“The courts and their staffs are here to provide justice first and foremost, for all Missourians,” Price said. “This high-speed broadband technology will allow our local court staff to process the cases that come before them faster and more efficiently. It then will enable courts to share that information more rapidly and proficiently with other government officials, including law enforcement officers. It will permit quicker and easier online access for the public in those communities to see appellate opinions and other case information. And it will let local courts conduct certain proceedings or meetings through videoconferencing, which saves time and money and can enhance safety by eliminating the need to transport certain individuals to the courthouse. In the future, this high-speed broadband technology also will allow more Missouri courts to move toward allowing lawyers and litigants to file case documents electronically.”

The grant will provide essential funding for Sho-Me Technologies to build 500 miles of new fiber to bring high-speed broadband connectivity to the courthouses in six south-central Missouri counties – Benton (in the 30th Judicial Circuit); Cooper (in the 18th circuit); Gasconade and Osage (in the 20th circuit); Maries (in the 25th circuit); Miller (in the 26th circuit); and Stone (in the 39th circuit). It also will enable the company to bring significant improvements to the existing broadband capabilities of courthouses in another 11 counties in south-central Missouri – Camden (in the 26th circuit); Crawford (in the 42nd circuit); Dallas, Hickory and Polk (in the 30th circuit); Howell, Oregon and Shannon (in the 37th circuit); Phelps and Texas (in the 25th circuit); and Wright (in the 44th circuit). (See map below.) In addition, Sho-Me plans to interlink – or connect – its fiber networks to those maintained by other service providers in the state, enhancing broadband coverage to many courthouses in Missouri.

“For courthouses that will be getting broadband for the first time, it will be like moving from navigating a narrow, winding road to enjoying the ease and expanse of a major interstate highway,” State Courts Administrator Greg Linhares said. “For courthouses already using broadband, the improvements will ensure more reliability and less disruption of service.”

Price said, “In the end, the expansion and enhancement of broadband that this grant will bring to our courts and communities will improve our ability to deliver fair, effective and expeditious justice to the citizens in Missouri.”

The grant to Sho-Me Technologies, awarded by the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, was announced this week by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon. One discussion of the grant took place at 1:30 yesterday at the Camden County Juvenile Justice Center in Camdenton, and another discussion is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. today at the Gasconade County Courthouse in Hermann.

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