Process resumes
Jury trials halted due to the pandemic will return Monday to local courthouses.
The last time state jury trials resumed in the Capital Region, the second wave of COVID-19 made it a very short return.
But on Monday, as top state court officials optimistically navigate the judicial system’s slow rebound from more than a year in a coronavirus-plagued legal world, jury trials will once again return to courthouses in Albany and Schenectady.
It is just a few trials, but it is a start.
“As you know, the COVID metrics have improved and the vaccination campaign is expanding to reach more and more people in New York,” Chief Judge Janet Difiore said last Monday in her latest weekly address amid the lethal pandemic.
As such, Difiore said, the court system would move forward with its plan to incrementally expand in-person operations and, once again, start limited civil and criminal jury trials.
The key word? Incremental. As a reminder of the very present threat of coronavirus in courts, one need only log onto the state court system’s website, nycourts.gov, and view the section titled “Tested Positive For COVID-19.” One visitor to Tioga County Court in Owego tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. Two days earlier, two non-court employees in Buffalo City Court tested positive. Other positive COVID-19 tests last week were reported in Yonkers, Queens and Nassau County.
The vast majority of court matters will continue to be handled virtually “for the foreseeable future,” Difiore said.
“To be clear, our commitment to expanding in-person services and restarting jury trials does not mean that we have any intention of returning to the kind of courthouse density that existed before the arrival of
COVID -19,” she said.
Here’s what is in store in the Capital Region:
In Schenectady, City Court Judge Robert Hoffman has a criminal jury trial of a defendant charged with unlawful imprisonment and menacing scheduled to start Monday at 8:30 a.m. A commercial claims civil trial was set to begin on Monday in City Court at 1:30 p.m.
In Albany, a jury trial in an asbestosrelated suit is scheduled to begin on Tuesday before Justice Erin Gall in state Supreme Court at 10 a.m.
It is the start of what court officials hope will be a return to (almost) normal.
“We will continue to prioritize and enforce social distancing, the use of personal protective equipment, our strict cleaning regimen, and the maintenance of an environment where everyone — jurors, lawyers, litigants, witnesses, judges, staff and all other participants — feels comfortable and confident about the safety of our courthouses,” Difiore said in her address.
Back in November, as trials were set to resume in Albany County, a single trial involving a parole violation got under way before acting Supreme Court Justice Roger Mcdonough. Only the judge, parties, staff, deputies and jurors were allowed inside the courtroom. Observers could watch from a room across the street in the historic Albany County Courthouse.
But nearly as quickly as the new beginning started, the coronavirus poked out its ugly spiked head. Lawrence Marks, the state’s chief administrative judge, announced that because of rising cases of COVID -19, jury trials had to be suspended again.
Raniere lawyer leaves case, firm
Albany defense attorney Danielle Smith, part of the defense team for NXIVM leader Keith Raniere, has left the case and departed the law firm of longtime area attorney Paul Derohannesian.
Smith, a University at Buffalo Law School graduate who has worked for Derohannesian & Derohannesian since 2013, left the firm to move closer to her family, according to an email. Smith was one of four trial attorneys who sat in a federal courtroom in Brooklyn with the reputed cult leader known within NXIVM as “Vanguard.”
“Prior to leaving, she discussed the issue with Mr. Raniere who agreed that she would no longer represent him in this matter upon her departure from D&D,” Derohannesian informed Senior U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis. “I have since spoken to Mr. Raniere and he once again reiterated his consent to Ms. Smith’s withdrawal as an attorney in this matter. Mr. Raniere will suffer no prejudice as a result of her withdrawal. I therefore respectfully request that she be terminated as an attorney of record in the above matter.”
Raniere, who was convicted of all charges, including sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy and racketeering charges that included possession of child pornography, extortion and identity theft, is serving 120 years in a federal prison in Arizona.
Raniere’s lead attorney, Marc Agnifilo, left the case last month along with Teny Geragos, another attorney at his firm who had been representing Raniere at trial.
Derohannesian, at least for now, remains part of the legal team for Raniere, 60, formerly of Halfmoon. Raniere has hired appellate lawyers that include Jennifer Bonjean, Joseph Mcbride and Steven Alan Metcalf II.