One year after the coronavirus pandemic forced local courts to shut down, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans has announced that criminal trials are now scheduled to resume next month.
Evans on Wednesday announced target dates to resume in-person jury trials on March 22 at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse at 26th Street and on March 29 at the Bridgeview Courthouse. Summonses for prospective jurors are already arriving in mailboxes across the county this week.
“The right to a trial by jury is a cornerstone of our democracy, and jury service is one of the most important things that you can do as a citizen,” Evans said in letters to jurors. “Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have established procedures to safeguard the health of all persons in the courthouses. Every reasonable precaution will be taken to protect the health and safety of the jurors, parties, witnesses, lawyers and court staff during jury selection and the trial to follow.”
Jury trials were suspended last March during the initial COVID-19 outbreak and courts face an enormous backlog of cases that must be handled. #jurytrials,
No comments:
Post a Comment