36th Judicial Circuit adjusts operations during pandemic

Court proceedings during the COVID-19 pandemic are a work in progress in the 36th Judicial Circuit.

Adjustments are continuing to be made since the Missouri Supreme Court issued a series of orders, now suspending most in-person proceedings through May 1.

“It’s a work in progress,” said Presiding Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett. “We are doing our very best to limit contact with the circumstances (of the COVID-19), but, with some cases we have, we have to go forward and just be careful,” Pritchett said.

One of the most important things people need to understand, Pritchett sad, is the courts still are open and operating.

“We have restricted access, but we’re still available,” he said.

Since the Supreme Court issued its initial order on March 16 suspending most in-person proceedings, “I’ve probably postponed seven jury trials that were scheduled between (March 16) and April 17,” said Pritchett, prior to the Supreme Court again extending its order until May 1.

The problem with that, he said, is the court’s dockets already “extend way out in the future. It’s going to be interesting to get those (postponed cases) scheduled very quickly.”

Criminal cases, Pritchett said, have “certain time restraints,” and those cases may have to be shuffled with “ones I’m having to cancel now.”

Pritchett said the differences between felony and misdemeanor cases is the speedy trial requirement for felonies.

“There are definite time frames we have to operate” by in felony cases, he said.

For those with misdemeanor cases, who do not have an attorney, Pritchett suggested utilizing Casenet and its tracking feature for alerts.

“Those using the (track) feature, they would be notified of court dates,” otherwise letters will be sent to last known addresses, Pritchett said.

“The quickest way is to use Casenet,” he said. But, for those who “don’t know how to use (Casenet), they can contact the clerk’s office.”

Civil cases, except for those which are exempted under the Supreme Court orders, are being postponed, “but we have not set them off very far into the future because we don’t know how much longer this in-person suspension is going to last,” Pritchett said.

For the cases on Pritchett’s docket, he said, he has set cases three to four weeks out, with the understanding “we may have to extend that period, but if we don’t, I have large dockets, I want to get those started as soon as we can.”

Adult abuse and child protection orders still are “being entered, but the actual hearings are being postponed until at least the end of April,” Pritchett said.

The courts, he said, recently have begun using video conferencing for appearances of Butler County jail inmates “unless it involves some hearing like a disposition hearing, a plea, motion to revoke (or) preliminary hearing.”

The use of video conferencing is something “we’ve talked about” for years, “but in this emergency situation, if there is a silver lining of having to get things done, it is we’ll be able to do some things that we weren’t able to do before,” Pritchett said.

The use of video conferencing, Pritchett said, is something the circuit’s juvenile courts have been doing for years.

“What we are doing now, currently we have the availability for video conferencing in my courtroom,” Pritchett said. “I’ve been exploring what it is going to take to make that same type of video conferencing available in Judge (C. Wade) Pierce’s courtroom.”

Pritchett said the Supreme Court has given courts the temporary authority to use Zoom for video conferencing, which provides another option.

Since the 2017 flood eliminated the jail in Ripley County, Pritchett said, both he and Associate Circuit Judge David Swindle have been using a video conferencing program to have contact with prisoners in the Wayne County Jail “in order to meet the new bond rules.

“So, now what we hope to do is be in the same position to do that here in Butler County.”

The juvenile courts in both Butler and Ripley counties are “functioning with regard to the types of hearings the Supreme Court says are exempted from suspension,” Pritchett said.

Typically, Pritchett has between 125 and 150 cases on his docket every Tuesday.

“What I’ve been doing weekly, those who are out of custody, I’ve been continuing them to a different date,” Pritchett explained. “Those who have been arrested during the past week, I was doing them in-person. Now, I’m trying to do video conferencing.”

On a recent Tuesday, Pritchett said, he took up several pleas of incarcerated inmates.

As of now, Pritchett said, the Department of Corrections has not denied intake of any local prisoners sentenced to prison.

“Another thing that has happened, I’ve been in contact with the sheriff to set up a way for attorneys to have contact with inmates through telephone or video conferencing,” Pritchett said.

The main reason behind that, he said, is to help the sheriff limit how many third parties come into his facility and avoid the potential of exposing his staff and inmates to the virus.

Also in the works, he said, is a website for the 36th Judicial Circuit, something “we didn’t have” before.

“I want to be able to do that so we can make public administrative orders; we’ve had to do a lot of that lately,” he said. “That’s another good thing.”

As far as staffing, Pritchett said, the clerks in both counties are using “staggering arrangements where certain clerks work on certain days.”

The juvenile office staff is doing the same thing, Pritchett said.

“The doors to the juvenile office building are locked, but there are people there,” Pritchett said. “Some of the deputy juvenile officers I know are working from home.”

Once the courts are given the go-ahead to return to regular operation, Pritchett expects he will have to hold felony court more than one a day in order to get caught up.