Conceding he had no legal basis to limit coverage, Judge Lance Ito has agreed to keep cameras in the courtroom during the O.J. Simpson trial.

Ito ruled Monday after facing a gantlet of media attorneys who argued that the camera could help ensure accurate coverage and help instill public faith in the courts in a murder case unparalleled in its celebrity."I speak for the camera, and on its behalf, I want to say the camera pleads absolutely 100 percent not guilty," Court TV attorney Floyd Abrams said in court, invoking language used earlier in the case by Simpson himself.

Ito, who has become a frequent critic of the media, proposed pulling the camera from the court six weeks ago after Los Angeles-area television station KNBC falsely reported that Nicole Brown Simpson's blood was detected on socks found in Simpson's home.

But the judge agreed Monday that the problems that initially raised his concern had nothing to do with the courtroom camera but with things happening outside his domain and beyond his control.

"The court's previous ruling allowing TV coverage stands," said Ito.

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Ito, however, added a requirement that a remote-control camera, operated by a technician outside the courtroom, be used whenever witnesses are testifying during the trial.

In other developments Monday,

Simpson's attorneys launched new legal challenges of evidence taken from the former football star's Ford Bronco. Ito said he hopes to rule on that motion, and standing motion involving evidence pulled from the vehicle, by the end of the week.

Lawyers were back in court Tuesday to begin the process of picking 15 alternates that will stand by the eight women, four-man jury to hear the case.

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