Courts delay trials, close doors to halt coronavirus spread. Less jury duty, slower trials
Sacramento Superior Court is planning to fully shut down its court operations as soon as Wednesday in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19, court officials said Tuesday.
“We’re working toward full closure,” Superior Court spokeswoman Kim Pedersen said before a meeting of courts officials to discuss plans. “It could be as early as (Wednesday).”
State law gives local courts extensive powers to act in an emergency including closing courthouses; transferring cases to another county’s court and extending the time to bring matters to trial, set felony arraignments or set preliminary hearings.
Courts in more than a dozen counties statewide have invoked the law, bringing their emergency orders to California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye’s desk for her signature. San Joaquin Superior Court was among the latest, suspending all non-emergency services Tuesday until April 3, closing its Lodi courthouse; moving many criminal hearings to Stockton; and rescheduling all civil proceedings, San Joaquin Superior Court officials announced Tuesday.
The chief justice has said she will expedite other courts’ requests to delay trials and take other emergency measures to slow the virus’ spread, saying the state’s judiciary is facing “an unprecedented challenge.”
Sacramento, too, is considering filing its own emergency order, Pedersen said.
Ted Somera, executive director of United Public Employees, the union representing Sacramento County’s 400-plus court employees, said scaled-back services are not enough. A full closing of the county’s courthouse is in order, Somera said.
“What are we waiting for here?” Somera said Tuesday morning. “We will advocate for at least a temporary closure so we can contain this. Contra Costa (Superior Court), Ventura have closed. We would hope that Sacramento would follow suit. To mitigate the spread, let’s do our part....People are dragging their feet. They need to think about the people they serve and their employees. I don’t know why Sacramento is taking so long.”
Sacramento County officials say 40 people have tested positive for the virus, seven more than Sunday. Two have died, a woman in her 90s at an Elk Grove assisted living facility last week, and a substitute teacher in her 70s who died Sunday.
County and state officials have called for restaurants to close their dining service, for gyms to close and those 65 years and older to stay at home.
Sacramento court officials late Monday ordered the Tuesday closure of the suburban Carol Miller Justice Center, along with civil self-help centers at the Gordon Schaber Courthouse and Hall of Justice in downtown Sacramento; and delays of all non-essential criminal matters for four to six weeks.
Court officials left open the possibility of “more extreme measures,” atop the Tuesday closures on a day when courthouses from Lake County to Los Angeles were drastically paring their services or closing outright.
They also vowed to “continue to serve the needs of the most vulnerable people in Sacramento County - our children, the elderly, domestic violence victims and people whose life and liberty interests are at stake.”
But by Tuesday, the county’s top prosecutor was also calling for more action from courts leaders to curb the virus’ spread.
“Our court is working diligently (but) from my perspective, we want to do everything in our power to minimize the risk to the community. To me this is about the systemic risk” to public health, Sacramento County District Attorney AnneMarie Schubert said Tuesday morning.
“We want to minimize the spread of this virus any way we can. I owe it to the employees, victims, the public and potential jurors. I know the court system is doing everything it can, but we need to understand the magnitude of the systemic risk,” Schubert continued. “Public safety also means bending the curve. That’s public safety and public health as well.”
Courthouses across California on Monday and Tuesday dramatically drew down operations and shuttered their doors as life under COVID-19 continued to grind communities to a standstill.
Meantime, Sacramento’s plan in closing Carol Miller Justice Center and the downtown walk-ups was four-fold:
*Shrink the numbers who enter the county’s courthouses each day;
*Trim the courts’ busy daily calendars to only those matters deemed essential and mandated;
*Reduce the numbers at service counters and in high-traffic courtrooms such as those at Sacramento County Main Jail in downtown Sacramento;
*Delay any non-essential trials or hearings where parties appear in court, while pushing for more proceedings by video and telephone.
But the large numbers of inmates in custody pose their own challenges for the courts and to public health. As many as 85 a day appear on the court’s morning calendar, said Pedersen, the Sacramento courts spokeswoman . Many are packed onto buses for the ride downtown from Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center near Elk Grove and seated in cramped courthouse holding tanks before making their appearances in busy courtrooms.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s officials on Monday canceled all social visits with inmates at its jails in a precautionary move. All scheduled visits after Monday will be canceled through March 30 when sheriff’s officials will reevaluate the visitor ban. But, Pedersen said, “the jail shutdown doesn’t address the issue, which is transportation.”
In Woodland, Yolo Superior Court officials on Monday announced the Yolo court was dramatically curbing its operations until at least April 1, issuing an emergency order to close clerks’ windows; reschedule jury service and all traffic cases; and delay most criminal and civil matters. The order followed a Friday announcement that all civil and non-priority criminal trials will be delayed until May 4.
Placer Superior Court rolled out its own plan Monday, closing its historic Auburn courthouse starting Tuesday until April 13; postponing all civil jury trials set between Monday and April 10; as well as all criminal jury trials set for this week. Placer courts officials in a statement said they are seeking an emergency order for an even longer delay, asking to postpone all criminal jury trials through April 10.
The moves in Placer and Yolo came amid a flurry of emergency orders signed by Cantil-Sakauye to respond to courts grappling with the health crisis. The state’s top judge signed off on emergency decrees for five counties Monday: Marin, Nevada, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo and Sonoma.
In the Bay Area where six counties are under an unprecedented shelter-in-place order to stop the virus’ spread, courts officials were already taking action and mulling options. Contra Costa Superior Court and Sonoma Superior Court are closed. Alameda Superior Court officials were discussing next steps Monday afternoon, officials there said. Earlier in the day, Alameda announced all criminal and civil trials set between Monday and April 3 would be continued for eight weeks.
San Francisco court officials have taken similar steps, continuing jury trials for 90 days.
Sara Cody, public health director in Santa Clara County — an epicenter of coronavirus, with 114 cases confirmed as of Sunday — put a fine point on the crisis and the need to call for the shelter-in-place order at an afternoon news conference Monday streamed on San Francisco television station KGO-TV’s website.
“We were seeing a tipping point in Santa Clara County,” Cody said, adding that the virus’ spread “will soon be happening in other jurisdictions.” Santa Clara County’s cases tripled in a week’s time — 52 of the cases were suspected to be due to community transmission, according to Santa Clara health officials.
“We needed to take swift action,” Cody said.
Santa Clara’s courts responded by rescheduling all civil, probate and court trials, except ongoing trials; many criminal trials and family and guardianship hearings; while extending temporary restraining orders.
Meantime, Los Angeles Superior Court, home to the country’s largest trial court, stopped jury summons for the next 30 days and gave judges with trials in session the option of delaying proceedings or declaring mistrials outright. On Tuesday, Los Angeles courts officials announced on the court’s website that the county’s courthouses would be closed through Thursday and all civil and criminal trials will be suspended through April 16.
Sonoma Superior Court made its call Monday — two days after the county announced its first confirmed community spread case of COVID-19 - closing all of its locations and services “except for critical calendars and functions” through April 3. Sonoma is not under the extraordinary shelter-in-place directive ordered for six Bay Area counties Monday.
This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
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