Sacramento courts to remain closed into mid-May because of coronavirus
Sacramento Superior Court will remain closed into mid-May, the court’s top judge announced Thursday, further idling the county’s coronavirus-shuttered courthouses.
The temporary closure now extends to May 15 for all but emergency matters, Sacramento Superior Court Presiding Judge Russell Hom ordered. A previous order issued March 19 was in effect through Thursday. Courthouses and courtrooms remain closed to judicial business.
Hom’s order Thursday follows extensions of Sacramento County’s countywide April 7 stay-home order to May 1 and the indefinite statewide shelter-in-place order imposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to continue to slow the spread of coronavirus.
More than 27,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and at least 957 deaths have been reported statewide, according to a Sacramento Bee survey of counties’ public health departments. In Sacramento County, at least 879 confirmed cases and 32 deaths were reported as of Thursday.
More than 30,000 people have died of COVID-19 nationwide as coronavirus deaths continued to soar.
Courthouses and courtrooms remain closed to judicial business.
Hom said while court services will continue to increase “incrementally,” any increase will be limited to those services deemed essential including in-custody hearings, bail setting, emergency protective orders and restraining orders.
Sacramento and other superior courts across the state have turned to video to conduct remote hearings on direction from the state’s Judicial Council; postponed jury trials and have approved the release of hundreds of jail inmates held on low-level offenses or who neared the ends of their confinement — all to shrink the numbers of people behind bars. California courts leaders have also instituted zero bail for those arrested on low-level offenses to keep jail populations low.
Placer Superior Court remains open but has reduced its functions to only emergency matters through May 8.
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