Early scene from the courthouse
A crowd of mostly media members began to gather outside the criminal court building in Riverhead before 5 a.m. Wednesday in anticipation of Rex Heuermann's guilty plea.
Television crews filmed live shots near the steps leading to the courthouse as others began preparations to cover this landmark day in Suffolk courts.
The anticipated guilty plea was the talk of the courthouse this week.
Security preparations began inside the building at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Court officers set up stanchions that extend from Judge Timothy Mazzei's courtroom down most of the hallway, where a press line will form after the building opens. The line outside the courthouse will first filter through an additional checkpoint that was set up beyond the front entrance, which opens at 9 a.m., to prescreen individuals (mostly media and attorneys) who have a state-issued Secure Pass. Everyone else will have to wait on an additional line before making their way up to the proceeding.
An overflow courtroom has been prepped for anyone beyond the roughly 150 people who will fill the chairs in Mazzei's gallery.
The proceeding is scheduled for 11 a.m.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
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