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Web posted November 9, 1997
When he gives the order, an assistant will push a button, and the world will know whether the murder conviction of British au pair Louise Woodward will stand or fall.
Judge Hiller B. Zobel's unprecedented decision to e-mail his ruling to news organizations for posting on the World Wide Web is as bold and risky as his appearance is staid.
The 65-year-old judge's own knowledge of computers admittedly is limited to using the ``escape'' key. A court official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the judge's son, a graduate of the California Institute of Technology, had a role in his thinking.
The judge turned to technology because of massive publicity surrounding the case of Ms. Woodward, who was sentenced last week to life in prison for killing a baby in her care.
The case has been fodder for national talk shows, Internet chat groups and front pages on both sides of the Atlantic. It has prompted talk about the choices working parents make and sparked outrage at Ms. Woodward's conviction.
Zobel's decision - whether to let the jury verdict stand, declare Ms. Woodward innocent, order a new trial, or reduce her conviction to manslaughter - could come as early as Monday morning.
The judge fears that releasing the ruling by traditional means would bury court clerks under a crush of reporters and that someone could get hurt in the jostling.
He believes the Internet is the best way of making the text of his ruling available instantly to media outlets and anyone else who wants to see it.
Under Massachusetts law, the judge must file a signed copy of the decision with the court clerk. He also plans to make two paper copies available to lawyers on both sides of the case. He has made no other arrangements for distribution on paper, despite protestations by reporters, who believe the system is unreliable.
The judge's technical naJivetDe was displayed in his original plan - to post the ruling on a single Web site belonging to Massachusetts-based Lawyers Weekly. The small server handling the Web site crashed soon after the word got out.
Under the current plan, the ruling will be sent by e-mail to about 25 news organizations, including The Associated Press, which plan to post it on their Web sites.
The judge plans to be next to the computer when the button to send the e-mail message is pushed.
``He wants to retain control over it until the moment it is released,'' said another court official close to the process, who also asked that his name not be used.
Zobel appears to enjoy the nuts and bolts of refining the procedure used to get the ruling to the world. The Navy veteran has likened the work to a covert operation. He is bemused by the media obsession with the case and befuddled as to why camera crews would follow him onto the trolley when he goes home.
The judge has shown hints of his independence and eccentricities in court. A history buff and Anglophile, the Harvard alumnus has quoted literature - Milton, for example - from the bench. He can be stern, but he also has a subtle sense of humor and a weakness for puns.
During tense arguments last week, he broke up the gallery after asking defense attorney Barry Scheck, a specialist in handling medical testimony, to concede a point.
``I'm not a doctor. I'm not a medical examiner,'' Scheck said.
``You are a medical cross-examiner,'' Zobel replied, drawing laughter.
The AP has set up a special site on the World Wide Web for anyone who wants to read the judge's decision: http://wire.ap.org/woodward/
Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - Possibly as soon as Monday, a bow tie-wearing judge who knows more about Milton than Microsoft will peer through wire-rimmed spectacles at a glowing computer screen.
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