But after Jan. 22, when courtroom cameras captured her at a moment that she had mistakenly thought was off limits, her persona changed again.

You say that "a 10-year experiment with courtroom cameras showed that televised access enhanced public understanding of the judicial system without harming the legal process."

To protect them, the judge turned off the courtroom camera and microphone when the brothers testified yesterday.

The first casualty of the case could be the courtroom camera.

However, it was not courtroom cameras that dragged the Simpson trial into the tabloids.

The courtroom cameras actually helped educate an enthralled audience about legal principles, the admissibility of evidence and the maneuverings of lawyers.

For one thing, there is no connection between courtroom cameras and the prejudicial report that triggered Judge Ito's anger.

Defense lawyers strongly objected to courtroom cameras, pointing to 60 years of practice and a Federal Court rule that prohibits them.

"I know what people need better than they do," he said, looking from the jury to the courtroom camera, his face red, angry, perspiration on his forehead.

But in showing them to witnesses, prosecutors kept spectators and the courtroom camera from seeing them.