Name: Cook County’s plan to resume jury trials uncertain as coronavirus concerns persist
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Cook County’s plan to resume jury trials uncertain as coronavirus concerns persist

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AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneJan 22, 2021 at 1:03 pmCook County court officials want to resume jury trials earlier than many expected, attempting to strike a balance as COVID-19 spreads while a backlog of cases builds and some defendants languish behind bars.But an initial target date to bring jurors back as early as mid-February — a plan met with skepticism from much of the courthouse rank and file — has already been scrapped, officials said, and there is no firm deadline. Jury notices that were intended to go out this week have not been sent.Advertisement“Trials could begin next month, but more important than any date is first making sure jurors, witnesses, judges, defendants and all court personnel would be safe,” according to a statement Friday from Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ office.In the 10 months since the last jury verdict was rendered at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, proceedings there have morphed into forms that would have been unrecognizable before the pandemic.AdvertisementThe vast majority of hearings are held via videoconference. The Illinois Supreme Court has essentially suspended speedy-trial deadlines. And with so many cases on hold — but new cases coming in steadily — the system is struggling with a significant backlog.Until earlier this month, many regular courthouse workers assumed jury trials wouldn’t start back up until late spring or in summer, especially with high coronavirus numbers around the state and the slow rollout of vaccines. Only in the past few weeks did a much tighter deadline emerge.While the chief judge’s office confirmed last week officials were aiming to have jury trials begin Feb. 16 — — a spokeswoman for the office later said that date was “optimistic” and cautioned that plans had not yet been finalized.Nevertheless, the February target was met with anxiety and skepticism among some courthouse staffers, who doubted that the notoriously sluggish Cook County system could get back in gear and worried about safety.The public revelation of the Feb. 16 date came the same day it was announced that a judge assigned to Leighton had received a COVID-19 diagnosis. That week, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office disclosed that five of its employees tested positive. And on Monday, an assistant public defender assigned to a suburban courthouse died of COVID-19.But there are significant, known measures that can bring down risk, said Dr. Mark Dworkin, an infectious-disease physician and medical epidemiologist who teaches at the UIC School of Public Health.“It’s not realistic to expect complete elimination of risk from infectious diseases in any sort of gathering space,” Dworkin said. “But bringing it down substantially is the goal, because society still has to function as well.”Cook County authorities, in consultation with health officials, are considering a system that would clear out three large courtrooms for each trial: One for the actual proceedings, where jurors would sit spaced apart in the gallery seating usually reserved for spectators. Another where jurors could eat lunch and deliberate. And another where spectators could watch a livestreamed video of the trial proceedings. Each juror would be given personal protective equipment to wear.AdvertisementThose kinds of distancing and masking measures go a long way toward safety, Dworkin said.He cautioned that jurors on lunch breaks should be under strict instructions to remove their masks only to take a bite or have a drink, because a “break-room setting” could spark a cluster of infection. And the county should pay close attention to air circulation in the courtrooms, with an eye toward frequent ventilation.If someone were to test positive for COVID-19 during a trial, quarantine likely would not be necessary, given that participants would be masked and distanced from each other, according to the statement from Evans’ office.“If a juror, judge, or a staff person tests positive, alternates or substitutes will be available,” the statement read. “For attorneys, witnesses, and defendants, decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.”Cook County’s neighbors have grappled with similar issues. Kane County’s chief judge gave the green light last week for criminal jury trials to begin Jan. 28. Lake County held two jury trials — one criminal and one civil — in the fall, before putting in-person juries back on pause at least through February. It is planning to conduct the state’s first remote jury trial, in a civil case, next month.Meanwhile, felony trials are still on hold in Cook County; in-person hearings of any kind are forbidden except for “extraordinary or compelling circumstances,” providing wiggle room for interpretation by each individual judge.AdvertisementThat gives enough leeway for the occasional in-person hearing at Leighton, where witnesses are provided transparent masks so their facial expressions can be better read.And the state Supreme Court has effectively suspended speedy-trial deadlines due to public safety concerns.In normal circumstances, when a defendant formally invokes his right to a speedy trial, the clock starts ticking: Prosecutors have 120 days to bring him to trial if he is in custody, and 160 days if he is out on bond. If they blow past that deadline, then by law the charges must be dropped.Without effectively being able to demand a trial, defendants have lingered in pretrial phases while the backlog grows. At least one judge has directed prosecutors to make plea offers on every single case in front of her, in an effort to help clear the decks.“In-person jury trials are a step towards trying to alleviate some of that backlog,” said Sarah Sinovic, a spokeswoman for Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office. “And (we’re) looking to do it in a safe way for our assistant state’s attorneys and everyone else who needs to show up in the courtroom.”Sinovic said each individual judge will have the power to decide which cases go to trial first but, broadly, the state’s attorney’s office wants to prioritize cases where defendants are in custody.Advertisement“Whenever they’re ready to go, we’re ready to go. As long as it’s safe, we’re ready to go,” she said. “If it takes longer to get ready for that safe spot, we’d prefer that (rather) than rushing.”As president of the union that represents Cook County public defenders, and as an assistant public defender himself, Kevin Ochalla must try to balance the health of the rank-and-file attorneys with the interests of their clients.It will be crucial to build a framework that prioritizes safety as well as flexibility to account for the unique circumstances of each case, he said.“We try and balance the overall desire and the overall goal of keeping everybody safe, but each individual attorney does make a decision on their cases as to how they’ll handle the situation when it comes to their representation,” he said. “It does come down to a decision between the lawyer, the client and what they feel comfortable doing.”Another unanswered question: Whether jurors would even show up.Notices for duty on a grand jury — which decides whether to indict a defendant in the early phases of a case — have been going out consistently since June, sources familiar with the process but unauthorized to speak about it publicly said.AdvertisementThis month, 425 grand jury summons were sent out, and 84 people responded, according to the chief judge’s office. That is a similar response rate to previous months, the sources said.But that has been enough to select 14 to 16 new grand jurors each month, and keep the indictments coming.And Dworkin, the infectious-disease physician, when asked whether he would show up for jury duty if he were summoned in Cook County, answered without hesitation: Yes.“I would show up because I would be planning to wear my mask, I would be planning to be conscientious about spacing myself out from others. And those are big factors that I have control over,” he said. “There’s only so much magic to the virus. A lot of it is just understood principles. If you’re too far away, it can’t come get you.” Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneJan 22, 2021 at 1:03 pmCook County court officials want to resume jury trials earlier than many expected, attempting to strike a balance as COVID-19 spreads while a backlog of cases builds and some defendants languish behind bars.But an initial target date to bring jurors back as early as mid-February — a plan met with skepticism from much of the courthouse rank and file — has already been scrapped, officials said, and there is no firm deadline. Jury notices that were intended to go out this week have not been sent.Advertisement“Trials could begin next month,...

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Megan Crepeau

The Chicago Tribune is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the 6th highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017.

Cook County’s plan to resume jury trials uncertain as coronavirus concerns persist

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