Am I allowed to bring a recorder into court with my son on prelim in calif?

You are not allowed to bring any recording devices into the courtroom. But why would you want to anyway? The proceedings are transcribed by a court reporter and your son's attorney will get a copy of the transcript after it has been prepared. If they find you with a recorder, they will take it from you and probably remove you from the courtroom. While I recognize your son is facing extremely serious charges, I'm sure your son's attorney is doing a good job. And if this is by chance a murder involving gangs, you can be sure the balliff and DA will be watching the audience very closely to assure there are no problems.

No. California Rules of Court, Rule 1.150, prohibits any sort of audio or video recording or photography without the prior approval of the judge. If you try to secretly record the proceedings, you could be banned from the courthouse for the remainder of his proceedings.

Absolutely NOT. The rules of court prohibit recording without the court's approval.

No. That's against the law. A court reporter is there to record everything soda and prepare a transcript of the proceeding. If you break out a recording device, you'll be removed from the courtroom and possibly even prosecuted.

I somewhat disagree with the previous answers. You cannot record without asking for permission FIRST, but Rule 1.150 does allow for personal recording devices where the judge has approved it: The judge may permit inconspicuous personal recording devices to be used by persons in a courtroom to make sound recordings as personal notes of the proceedings. A person proposing to use a recording device must obtain advance permission from the judge. The recordings must not be used for any purpose other than as personal notes. Talk to the defense attorney for your son; they may be willing to request permission for you, assuming they don't think it would be harmful to your son's case to do so.

No, you cannot record the proceedings without prior approval from the court.