NC again postpones all jury trials, court deadlines extended amid coronavirus pandemic
North Carolina will postpone all jury trials until August, Chief Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley ordered Thursday.
Also, the highest state court official ordered some new deadlines for court matters extended through the end of July.
“Until this public health threat has passed it cannot be business as usual,” Beasley said.
On April 2, Beasley ordered all court business postponed until June, unless it could be held remotely.
Other exceptions included any hearing that involved due process of law, such as a first appearance before a judge, or an emergency, such as a domestic-violence protective order.
Beasley said the state’s courts have still handled roughly 20,000 cases since then, and her order allows more to go forward, including divorces and possibly evictions.
She does not want an “avalanche” hitting the courts at the end of June, and said local officials will decide how to prioritize their backlogs.
Wake, Durham counties
In Wake County, District Attorney Lorrin Freeman has been meeting with District and Superior Court judges, the public defender, the sheriff and other court officials since March.
Since then, the courts have handled only cases involving defendants who are in custody, and they have prioritized those that can be resolved quickly or involve public safety.
About 1,000 District Court cases have been dismissed just this week, Freeman said, mostly involving inspection and registration violations. At Monday calendar calls, defendants have been excused if their lawyers can be present.
Starting June 1, the dockets will grow beyond people awaiting trial behind bars. Freeman said the emphasis in District Court will be on assaults, drunk driving and anything involving a victim.
She expects more homicide cases to be rescheduled in June, but one saving grace is fewer crimes are being committed during the pandemic, sparing the calendar more burden.
“We have already lost two and half months worth of jury trials and anticipate losing another two months at a minimum,” Freeman said. “We’ve had multiple murder cases that would have been tried in this time. Best case scenario, you’re looking at a six-month delay in things making it to trial.”
Durham County offered no specifics Thursday.
“We expect to have reduced dockets and courtroom capacities in order to protect the health of the public and employees as more proceedings are held,” said Sarah Willets, spokeswoman for District Attorney Satana Deberry.
Court safety measures
Courts statewide, though, will adopt safety measures in line with other crowded areas fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Spaces will be blocked off for 6-feet of social distancing and hand sanitizer stations will be set up. Medical personnel may ask that visitors wear masks or have their temperatures taken, and funding for this has been sought from the General Assembly.
“These are challenging times and courthouses are likely to look very different,” said McKinley Wooten, director of the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts.
Beasley said the courts remain open and public throughout the pandemic. She urged that only people having court business should attend any proceedings, but said that provisions can be made for public access even if hearings are held electronically.
Media presence will be governed by individual judges, who already make decisions about whether cameras can come into courtrooms.
Prior to Thursday’s order, attorneys or citizens without court business were asked not to enter the state’s courthouses, and lawyers were asked to file by mail whenever possible.
Beasley also added 90 days to pay any judgments or money owed to the courts. On April 16, she issued a new order allowing marriages to resume.
Reduction of jail populations
From the start of the outbreak, district attorneys statewide have felt pressure to reduce their counties’ jail populations to keep the virus from spreading.
In Durham, eight detention officers tested positive and one died of COVID-19 complications in April.
In early April, Mecklenburg County reported both a detention officer and contractor nurse had tested positive for the coronavirus. Earlier this month, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office reported four cases among jail officers.
Durham County’s jail population fell 9 percent in mid-March and Wake County began looking for non-violent inmates over 60 to release.
Also in March, sheriffs statewide asked Gov. Roy Cooper if the state could help with space for inmates during the pandemic. The governor said no help would be coming because prisons were at capacity, according to NC Health News.
More than 1,000 COVID-19 cases have struck the state’s prison system, prompting the ACLU of North Carolina and other civil rights groups to sue in April.
Beasley’s order allowed filings for criminal matters and statute-of-limitations matters to go until the end of July. Civil matters already extended to June will not be extended.
This story was originally published May 21, 2020 at 10:19 AM.