Area residents may be called on for jury duty more often in 2021, as Missouri courts try to catch up on a backlog of cases postponed due to COVID-19 precautions.
“I’ve got trials scheduled now through January (2022),” Presiding Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett said Wednesday morning, before a video hearing that would involve attorneys in Kansas City and St. Louis, something unheard of before changes meant to help stem the spread of the coronavirus. “Obviously, not all of those will go, but when we look in terms of dates available for jury trials, I don’t have a first setting until (next) January.”
To help catch up, the courts are double booking jury trials. They anticipate not all cases will go, and hope that one will be able to move forward on the scheduled date.
The courts in Butler and Ripley counties aren’t quite ready to begin holding trials yet.
If positive trends continue, it may happen in mid-to-late February or early March, Pritchett believes.
The 36th Judicial Circuit was able to re-enter phase 2 of the recovery plan last week. This allows more people in the courtroom than phase 1. Pritchett approved the move after reviewing local COVID case numbers, which have decreased, and vaccine efforts, which have increased.
Jury trials cannot be held until phase 3, under guidelines from the Missouri Supreme Court.
The 36th Judicial Circuit has not operated in phase 3 since the pandemic reached this area in March.
In fact, few circuits in the state have operated in phase 3, and many of those were in less populated areas, Pritchett said.
Normally, the courts might be looking as far out as August for more complicated and lengthy jury trials at this point, but it has never been this bad, Pritchett said.
The backlog also means criminal cases, particularly those where an individual is incarcerated, are prioritized over civil cases, which could see longer waits for jury settings, he explained.
Only two jury trials were held in 2020, compared to a normal average of 10. One was held in March, before pandemic precautions were put in place, and the other was held in October.
“We could not have done that without the cooperation of Three Rivers College letting us use the Tinnin center (for jury selection),” Pritchett said.
Pritchett has reached out to the city to hold future jury selection at the Black River Coliseum, which would allow for similar precautions as are taken at the courthouse — face masks, temperature checks and social distancing.
He has at least two murder trials, both changes of venue from Scott County, that were postponed from the end of 2020.
Different cases require different jury pools and space needs for social distancing, he said.
For instance, a first-degree murder trial requires a larger jury pool, as do crimes where potential jurors would be more reluctant to participate, such as a case involving child molestation versus a drug offense.
How quickly trials will begin to be scheduled is still uncertain.
The 36th circuit entered phase 2 on Friday and has to stay there a minimum of 14 days, but that’s not the only factor.
“What I’m required to do is to monitor the community trends, which is what I’ve tried to do through the Butler County Health Department, and show that there’s been during that 14 day period, a substantial improvement in conditions,” Pritchett said.
During this time, it has been difficult to address criminal cases involving incarcerated defendants as quickly as the courts would like, Pritchett said.
But there have not been any cases where the right to a speedy trial has been an issue, he said. Attorneys from both sides have agreed to continuances in these cases, he explained.
“One thing now is that I do feel like there’s finally some light at the end of the tunnel,” Pritchett said. “For several months, we were just in limbo. And it was hard to tell when or if the circumstances were going to improve. But at least I believe there is some hope now that gradually, we can get back to normal.”
And there have been positives, such as being able to do hearings by video now, he said.