KY lawyers worry about crowded court dockets. ‘Any one of those could bring COVID-19.’
Some judges around Kentucky plan to bring hundreds of people through their courtrooms when state courts reopen June 1, leading to COVID-19 safety concerns from lawyers who must be present.
Chief Justice John Minton Jr. has instructed the courts to resume most civil and criminal proceedings other than jury trials after a nearly three-month shutdown to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus. In his order, Minton urged the courts to use telephone and video technology to conduct proceedings remotely when possible.
But some judges are stacking their June dockets with in-person proceedings despite the risk, said the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy, which oversees public defenders for the poor.
The DPA cited courts in Hardin and Pike counties as examples. Hardin District Court is scheduling in-person hearings with 400 or more cases on its dockets starting June 1, and Pike District Court has similar plans, the agency said.
“Even if safety precautions are enforced, an in-person docket means that defenders and others will be exposed to dozens or hundreds of people over the course of several hours as people continuously rotate throughout the courthouse and the courtroom,” said Deputy Public Advocate B. Scott West in a news release on Monday.
“Any one of those could bring COVID-19 to all the people in the courtroom, endangering their health and requiring an extended shutdown of the court system once the exposure is discovered,” West said. “Courts should resume as the chief justice ordered, through electronic means, not in a courtroom.”
In response, Minton on Monday urged trial judges to move cautiously with the reopening.
“When the courts begin providing additional services June 1, it will be done on a gradual basis,” Minton said. “Judges will be able to resume all civil and criminal matters, but these hearings should be conducted remotely unless the judge determines that an in-person hearing is necessary.”
Judges in Hardin and Pike counties say their courthouses will follow the chief justice’s guidance on the use of masks, frequent cleaning and crowd control to reduce the chances of anyone transmitting the coronavirus.
“While the docket numbers are typical for our district, the process of handling cases and social distancing is much different than a typical day,” said Hardin District Chief Judge Kimberly Shumate.
“Bailiffs will be meeting cars before parking and indicating what time a person’s case will come before the judge, and they will be directed when to come back for admission to the courthouse,” Shumate said. “We are still encouraging Skype participation by any attorneys and defendants who are able.”
At the Pike County courthouse, hundreds of people are being scheduled to appear in June for arraignments and preliminary hearings.
To avoid overcrowding, criminal defendants on Pike’s arraignment docket have been divided into different groups based on the first letter of their last name, staggering the date and time they are supposed to arrive at the courthouse. A typical arraignment docket can have 65 to 100 people, not counting attorneys and courtroom staff.
Overseeing the preliminary hearings docket — with fewer people but longer arguments — will be District Judge Tommy May, who plans to limit attendance in his courtroom to no more than 12 people at any given time, not counting staff. Everyone will be masked and seated at least 10 feet from each other, May said.
“It may work smoothly, it may not,” May said.
May said he is encouraging lawyers to appear by video alongside their clients if they are comfortable doing so and have access to the technology. It’s possible between a quarter and half of his docket will appear on a screen rather than in person, he said. Inmates at the Pike County Detention Center usually appear through video conferencing, so that should help protect everyone, he added.
“Prisoners are high-risk people,” May said. “If you can keep them out of your courtroom, you are alleviating a lot of the risk.”
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 4:41 PM.
