High court extends its order restricting trials

San Antonio — The Texas Supreme Court has extended its emergency order restricting in-person court proceedings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The order continues the suspension of jury trials and other in-person proceedings put in place in mid-March because of the pandemic. It replaces a previous order that was set to expire Oct. 1.

The new order prohibits all in-person trials and hearings until Dec. 1 in justice of the peace and municipal courts, which handle lowlevel misdemeanors, small claims, code enforcement cases and other matters.

The order is more flexible with regard to district, county and probate courts, which hear criminal and civil cases. In those courts, resumption of in-person proceedings is allowed subject to “approval by the local administrative judge in that county and the regional presiding judge.”

The order is consistent with a plan to resume proceedings in Bexar County courts in stages beginning in November, said Judge Ron Rangel, administrative judge for the county’s civil and district courts.

Rangel, presiding judge of the 379th state District Court, prepared the threepart reopening plan.

It calls for phasing in court proceedings starting with virtual civil trials beginning Nov. 2. In most cases, both sides would have to consent to having their cases decided via Zoom or similar technology.

Rangel’s plan also provides for conducting some virtual civil trials on a “compulsory” basis — that is, judges would have discretion to order litigants to participate remotely.

“As the Texas Supreme Court permits it, I’ll allow individual judges to do so as they see fit,” Rangel said.

As for in-person trials, Rangel said district and county courts would be allowed to conduct jury trials with all participants physically present “as the totality of community health factors dictates.”

Rangel said he anticipated that would be no sooner than Jan. 4.

The latest Supreme Court order essentially adopts recommendations made earlier this month by the state’s Office of Court Administration. The OCA’s 28-page report provided step-by-step guidance as to how the state’s 254 counties could seat juries safely.

Rangel said he intends to submit his reopening plan next week to Judge Sid Harle, who oversees the 4th Administrative Judicial Region, a 22-county area that includes Bexar.

Since the pandemic struck, jury trials in civil and criminal cases have been conducted remotely under the high court’s emergency orders in 20 cases statewide — none of them in Bexar County.

On Monday, Civil District Judge Antonia “Toni” Arteaga was to begin hearing the county’s first virtual civil trial on a pilot basis, to lay the groundwork for the broader reopening envisioned in Rangel’s plan.

In late July, the county sent out about 200 jury summonses. Arteaga remotely swore in a jury panel, from which a trial jury was to be selected to hear a case via Zoom. But in the end, no attorneys were willing to have their cases decided remotely.

Rangel said the jury panel was released from service Friday morning.

“It’s just not the right time, Arteaga said. “We are optimistic we will have another in December.”

“As the Texas Supreme Court permits it, I’ll allow individual judges to do so as they see fit.”

Judge Ron Rangel, administrative judge for Bexar County’s civil and district courts