Northern District of California Suspends All Jury Trials Until October
As California COVID-19 cases continue to climb, the court has decided to limit the number of people allowed in a courtroom for criminal proceedings to 10 individuals.
July 23, 2020 at 02:32 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The Recorder
The Northern District of California's courts will not be conducting any new jury trials—criminal or civil—until October in light of the uptick in coronavirus cases in the state, according to an order issued Thursday.
The order comes as California reported 12,801 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the state's total to 413,576 positive cases, according to the California Department of Public Health. Although in-person jury trial dates scheduled prior to October will be postponed or vacated, judges can still offer civil bench trials via videoconference, according to the general order signed by U.S. District Chief Judge Phyllis Hamilton of the Northern District of California.
The district's judges determined that "the public safety will be best served" by limiting the number of people in the courtroom to 10 individuals at a time, in effect nixing jury trials, "due to a recent increase in COVID-19 cases and in light of the current guidance of public health agencies," according to the order.
Parties litigating civil cases will not be making their way into a Northern District of California courtroom until October, with judges either deciding cases on the papers or hosting a phone or video hearing.
Initial appearances for criminal defendants appearing before magistrate judges will also be held remotely, according to the judicial decree. New arrestees will be booked at Santa Rita Jail and appear in court the next day, rather than being presented for booking at the U.S. Marshals Service lockup. The decision follows a May 21 order pushing off criminal jury trials until July and new civil jury trials to October. In that order, Hamilton wrote that she could not give any assurances "as to when civil trials can be resumed, and if so, whether a further suspension due to public health developments will be necessary."
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