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LOS ANGELES – More than 50 members of the media took their seats Wednesday afternoon in Courtroom 217 of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse here, all agreeing to abide by the restrictions set by the court to govern a much-anticipated hearing regarding the guardianship that controls the life of Britney Spears.
No laptops in the courtroom. No phone visible during the procedure. No real-time attempt to communicate with other people outside of the courtroom. Offenders would be promptly deported.
For those who wish to see and understand if Ms Spears’ father would be removed from his curatorial post, as the singer had requested, it seemed like the afternoon would be a frustrating and long wait to hear what had happened. spent inside.
But then, just minutes after the Los Angeles Superior Court clerk finished his roll call, snippets, apparently from inside the room, began leaking to the @BritneyLawArmy Twitter account.
Over the next hour, the Twitter feed became a source of real-time news during the crucial audience, followed both by mystified media unable to speak to their own reporters inside and by hundreds of fans. of Free Britney outside.
How did they manage to get out of it?
In interviews Thursday, members of the Britney Law Army described how the group, five friends all determined to see Ms Spears enjoy freedom, plotted their forensic Ocean’s 11: a well-orchestrated ‘buddy system’ that enabled them to disseminate as much information as possible. as quickly as possible without breaking the very strict rules of the court.
“It certainly wouldn’t have worked without the five of us,” said Marilyn Shrewsbury, 32, a lawyer who focuses on civil rights cases in Louisville, Ky.
The army, consisting of Mrs. Shrewsbury; two other lawyers, Angela Rojas, 30, and Samuel Nicholson, 30; a legal assistant, Raven Koontz, 23; and Emily Lagarenne, a 34-year-old recruiting consultant from Louisville and the surrounding area, flew to Los Angeles on Tuesday. That night, they sat outside, planning the final logistics as they ate street tacos, drank beer, and chain-smoked.
“We are Kentucky, ”Ms. Shrewsbury said.
The four women identify as lifelong Britney fans, but Mr. Nicholson was the driving force.
“From a civil rights litigation perspective, Sam really caught my interest,” Ms. Shrewsbury said.
The New York Times documentary “Framing Britney Spears” prompted the group to rectify what they saw as a lack of consistent information available to the public on what they described as the “gruesome treatment” of Ms Spears within the guardianship.
They arrived at the courtroom entrance at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday in hopes of securing five of the 11 seats allocated to members of the public on a first-come, first-served basis. Another 54 seats had been reserved for members of the media. Only one person, a New York Times reporter, arrived before them.
At 11 a.m., they received red raffle tickets which secured them seats in the courtroom when the hearing began at 1:30 p.m. Members of the public were told that they should turn off their seats. phone in front of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies. then put them in locked magnetic bags, which could be opened when they left.
“I have never been so nervous for a court hearing where I was not a lawyer,” Nicholson said.
The plan: Each of the five would take lots of notes, leave the audience one by one, every 15 minutes, pull their phones out of the bags, and tweet as much as possible, as quickly as possible.
The only hiccup:
“We were in the worst part of the courtroom,” recalls Nicholson. “The far right corner, not near the aisle at all.” The clerk obscured our view.
Some of them could not see the judge or the screen for appearances from a distance. It didn’t matter. The doors closed and the plan kicked into action.
Mr. Nicholson, measuring the time on his watch, motioned for the others to run out of the courtroom. Information poured in and subscribers clung to every word.
After about an hour, Mr. Nicholson was the only member of the military in the room. Judge Brenda Penny announced her decision: Mr. Spears would be suspended as estate registrar, effective immediately. Reporters tried to leave the room to report the news to the outside world, but Judge Penny stopped them, saying she would let everyone out for a break shortly.
Mr. Nicholson couldn’t leave either. His phone was locked. The power has turned off. In the street, more than a hundred #FreeBritney protesters waited in near silence. Ms Shrewsbury and Ms Rojas joined Ms Koontz and Ms Lagarenne outside.
When Judge Penny cleared the courtroom, the tweets started flying.
“Justice Penny: My order to stay Jamie Spears will remain in full effect until a revocation hearing,” Mr. Nicholson wrote.
The other four members of the army were with the crowd during the eruption.
“Literally the moment Sam tweeted that Jamie was suspended everyone started yelling about it,” Ms Shrewsbury said. “We were in shock for a full 45 seconds. “
Julia Jacobs contributed reporting.
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