The Phillip Burton Federal building in San Francisco during the shelter in place order March, 17, which closed many courts across the Bay Area impacting almost 7 Million residents. Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM
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.
