OGDEN -- When you see four TV satellite vans parked outside, something's up. And it soon would be.
The vans, fitted with the telescopic "masts" to hoist satellite transmitters in the air, were parked in front of 2nd District Court in Ogden at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Close to 20 members of the media descended on the usually uncluttered Ogden courthouse.
They were there for two cases: Matthew David Stewart, accused of shooting six police officers, one fatally; and Dallin Todd Morgan, the 18-year-old charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction in what police and prosecutors say was a plot to detonate a bomb at Roy High School.
Stewart's appearance and that of Morgan were scheduled half an hour apart. Both were making their first court appearances.
Stewart, 37, faces the death penalty; Morgan faces a possible sentence of life in prison.
Easily a dozen media types assembled in the fourth-floor viewing room for the daily video court where Stewart, in his jail jumpsuit and manacles, was to appear on a camera feed from the jail.
Outside a second-floor courtroom, a half-dozen more waited for the appearance of Morgan, who had been released on bail.
Stewart's hearing ended in time for all of the media on the fourth floor to reinforce the second-floor ranks waiting for Morgan.
Weber County Sheriff's Lt. Mark Lowther said he was the only additional officer assigned to the courthouse court security contingent, in his role as the sheriff's department's public information officer.
Sylvester Daniels, the chief court administrator, said his staff's role was limited to setting out some extra chairs in the fourth-floor viewing room. A temporary media room proved unnecessary.
And things went smoothly for what turned out to be a 15-minute status conference for Stewart, and three minutes for Morgan.
Morgan, with his attorney and two other people, had passed all of the cameras without a word. One flurry of activity came as he was leaving, and at least 10 members of the media, armed with video and still cameras, hurried, short of sprinting, down the steps to the first floor to follow Morgan out the front door.
But all in all, the media behaved itself.
It was pretty much all over by 9:30 a.m.
Two Fox TV reporters had to wait around to do live standups in front of the courthouse for the 11 a.m. newscast.
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