Courts set to get back to ‘normal’

WEST CHESTER » The courts in Chester County that have seen limited activity since March because of the statewide judicial emergency caused by the coronavirus outbreak will reopen to most normal functions next month, according to an order signed by the county supervising judge Wednesday.

In the three-page order, President Judge John Hall said that all Common Pleas and Magisterial District courts will have their functions “fully restored” on June 2, after having been restricted

to almost only emergency hearings for several weeks. His order comes on the heel of the state Supreme Court’s order last month calling for an end to the emergency June 1.

The one major exception, however, are jury trials, whether criminal or civil. No jurors are to be summoned for duty until at least August, Hall ordered. Any trial previously scheduled by a Common Pleas judge at the county Justice Center will have to be continued to a later date.

Earlier this month, Hall began opening up the courts to a list of miscellaneous proceedings, such as Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) hearings for first-time, non-violent offenders enrolling in the county’s programs; name change hearings; summary violation appeal hearings; civil forfeiture hearings; and pretrial criminal hearings and non-jury trials. Those new directives were set to take place on Monday, May 18.

Hall also said that those jury trial postponements would not count against a criminal defendant’s speedy trial rights. Those charged with criminal trails normally must be tried with 365 days of their arrest.

In addition to proceedings in the Common Pleas courts, all District Courts in the county can resume holding preliminary hearings for defendants on a weekly basis next month, with Hall allowing the use of video conferencing from the Chester County Prison for those defendants who are incarcerated.

Hall left it up to the county’s individual judges in the court system to maintain their own case list and schedule, “using their best discretion to address the backlog of cases accumulating since the courts were generally closed on March 19.”

Even though the courts will begin to return to some semblance of normalcy under Hall’s order, many of the policies and procedures put in place in March to guard against the spread of the coronavirus in the District Courts and Justice Center will continue, he ruled.

Visitors and employees coming into the Justice Center, for example, must wear a mask and have their temperatures monitored by security from the county Sheriff’s Office. Those who exhibited signs of being infected with the virus — high temperatures, coughs, etc. — are prohibited from entering.

Under the county’s “mission-essential” shut-down order — which was extended this week through June 4 — most court employees are either working from home or on staggered schedules. Those wishing to file documents with the county Prothonotary’s Office, are greeted at the door to the office by personnel who allow them to hand over files without entering the office itself, which does not have protective barriers between visitors and the clerical staff, unlike the county Clerk of Courts Office.

In his May 4 order loosening restrictions on some court functions, Hall also suggested that court and county employees in the Justice Center use the public stairways instead of the building elevators to reduce crowding and give the public the ability to use them. Elevators are currently limited to two passengers per car.