Defendants and witnesses in the Pahrump courts soon may want to smile -- they'll be on Candid Camera.

While people are routinely videotaped walking into stores, drawing money from their ATMs or plugging the slots in casinos, oddly enough they're not being filmed in the courtroom.

Nye County commissioners Tuesday agreed to apply for a $37,659 grant to fund a third of the $112,977 cost of the Jefferson Audio Video System for 5th district courtrooms. The balance will be paid by the county out of the payment equal to taxes received from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Last November, county commissioners agreed to fund $84,134 to buy the JAVS for justice courtrooms, but balked a month later when they were approached by 5th District Court Executive Legal Secretary Rebecca Chumley.

Pahrump Justice Court Administrator Kathy Ivey told commissioners at the Nov. 18 meeting, "this is a system where the cameras in the courtroom are controlled by who's speaking so the cameras would be directed on the person who's speaking at the time. It's a more complete record and it could possibly reduce the need for court reporters in the future."

"The current audio system, at times when we go into the courtroom it doesn't want to function or doesn't want to start up immediately," Ivey said.

Chumley told commissioners, "if something is missed in the courtroom we have the opportunity to rewind and take a look at that video coverage."

But while Ivey said it could possibly eliminate the need for a court reporter in justice court, Chumley said, they would still need to have a court reporter present in district court.

"There were some legal rulings whether you could replace a court reporter with the JAVS system," Nye County Information Technology Director Milan Dimac said. "They're thinking that it's possible."

The bills paid to court reporter Laurie Lynn Cooper alone in the last half of 2008 amounted to $39,217.

District court couldn't share a video recording system with justice court, Chumley said, since they work off different software.

But Chumley said it would still save the county money if they have to have court proceedings transcribed, a case presently on appeal has to be transcribed by a private company.

Dimac said the JAVS could also save travel costs from judges having to travel throughout the county for training which could be transmitted by video conference.

During the December meeting, former commissioner Roberta "Midge" Carver made a motion to approve the JAVS for district court as well, but it died for lack of a second. This time, commissioner Butch Borasky made the motion to apply for the grant, it passed 4-1.

Commissioner Gary Hollis voted against applying for the grant, without an explanation. But in his comments back in December, Hollis said, "we're spending a very, very, very large amount of money on the courtrooms. To be frank with you, we have other departments that also need attention. We're trying to save as much as we can so we can take care of the rest of the county other than the courtrooms."

The December rejection came after a high-tech shopping spree in November when commissioners bought a $146,020 JustWare prosecutor case management system allowing electronic management of cases by the district attorney's office; a $30,180 INFAX docket call, an electronic display of the court calendar outside of the courtroom; and a $20,620 REV-Q system to identify past due payments in the justice court case management system, along with the JAVS.

Hollis and Borasky have both spoken up recently about their concerns the PETT fund isn't a bottomless pit of money, especially since the county hasn't renewed another five-year agreement yet with the DOE.

Commissioner Joni Eastley Tuesday said a lot of other courtrooms around the state have been upgraded with up-to-date audio and visual recording systems.

"This is a recording audio-video and I do know the current system is horrible," Nye County Clerk Sam Merlino said.