Veteran Boston Judge Leads a North Carolina Trial From Afar

For half an hour, no one in the federal courtroom in Asheville, North Carolina could see the judge presiding over the bench trial remotely from Boston—but they could hear him.

The voice of US Senior District Judge William Young boomed out, ruling on objections raised over witness testimony in a civil trial addressing judiciary officials’ handling of misconduct claims by a former federal defender. The judge himself wasn’t visible, giving the impression that an omniscient voice was in charge—until a clerk turned the TV screens back on.

Young, sitting in his courtroom on the fifth floor of the federal courthouse ...