Courthouse locked, but technology allows Carter County courts to continue

VAN BUREN — The courts in Carter County already were using technology, such as video conferencing, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the Missouri Supreme Court recent order suspending many in-person proceedings through May 1, the courts now are relying even more on that technology.

Although the Carter County Courthouse is locked, the court staff, like county employees, still is working, said Associate Circuit Judge Steve Lynxwiler.

The only cases being taken up currently are criminal cases involving incarcerated defendants and the other cases that fall into one of the exceptions as set forth by the Supreme Court, which “for the most part are very few,” Lynxwiler said.

“We’ve got different options; like we did (recently), we had court with a very limited physical presence,” Lynxwiler said. “We had the judge, the attorneys, we had two parties. That’s what we are trying to do.”

Court personnel, he said, are using a “combination of things,” including the video conferencing.

“For our inmates housed in Butler County, we are using the jail’s web-based visitation program for court appearances,” Lynxwiler explained.

For those inmates housed in Wayne County, “we are using their Polycom (video conferencing) system that they have set up in the jail,” Lynxwiler said.

For those inmates held in other counties, such as Shannon, Lynxwiler said, the sheriff’s department is in the process of buying refurbished iPads, so “we can use Zoom (a video conferencing app) to communicate with the inmates and have them appear for court appearances through video conferencing.”

The Supreme Court, he said, has indicated Zoom is an acceptable option, so that “gives us two or three options we can use.”

Anyone out of custody, if they do not fall into the one of the exceptions for in-person proceedings, “we are continuing their cases for approximately 30 days until we can re-evaluate our situation,” Lynxwiler said.

There are “essentially no time standards that fall into place for bonded individuals,” Lynxwiler said.

As of last week, Lynxwiler said, no in-person proceedings had been held in criminal cases.

“We’ve done initial appearances, and then the seven-day bond hearings set forth in the rules, we’ve done all of those by video,” Lynxwiler said.

The attorneys, he said, have been present in the courtroom, but the defendants have remained in jail.

Those for exceptions, “we’re limiting who can be there,” Lynxwiler said. “One of the prime examples we have are protection order petitions, ex-parte petitions that have been filed.

“We have allowed the parties to come to the courthouse as long as they are not exhibiting any symptoms.”

The other thing Carter County is doing, Lynxwiler said, involves any agreements or stipulations, which have been reached between the parties.

“We’ve been doing video conferencing for those as well,” he said.

For divorce cases and other similar cases, which have been settled, “we’re doing those by affidavit (everything is agreed to in writing),” Lynxwiler explained. “They can request a judgment be entered by affidavit that way there is no appearance required.”

As Lynxwiler looks to the future, “what may come out of this is we figure out ways to use the technology down the road, where personal appearances aren’t as needed as we have thought in the past. That might come out of it.”