Area courts deal with coronavirus threat

Most courts in Mississippi have been required to stay open and operational by the Supreme Court of Mississippi as concerns loom of the spread of the coronavirus.

However, the courts are allowed to continue cases and introduce other measures to curtail the spread of the virus. Several of the Oktibbeha County courts, including Justice Court, chancery and circuit are all taking precautions in light of the situation.

“Basically, the circuit, chancery and justice, all the courts have to remain open, but they can reschedule their files and their court dates, and can extend them out,” said County Administrator Emily Garrard. “I know our Justice Court has already decided not to hear any cases until after April 14.”

Garrard also said access to county court buildings was being restricted.

“They are open, just rescheduling their court appearances,” Garrard said.

Circuit Clerk Tony Rook discussed the precautions being taken by the Circuit Court. He said the office was taking the usual steps, including not allowing those with flu-like symptoms into the court building and encouraging those who need the office's services to call.

He said the office could go to more drastic measures if needed.

“We are preparing for the possibility to remain open , but limit public access, and we may drastically limit public access,” Rook said. “If that occurs, we will continue to work here at the office, but we will do so predominantly by telephone, email and regular mail.”

He said as of now, the next circuit court term would still happen at the end of April. However, he said the court would likely only hear pleas and pre-trial agreements, with no jury pulled to keep the number of people in the building down.

“We do anticipate, at this time, having court and entertaining guilty pleas and pretrial agreements,” Rook said. “These are subject o change, obviously, but right now, that's what we're planning, and that would be determined ultimately by the circuit court judges.”

Rook said, at this point, elections would likely not be affected. The next election is the general election scheduled for November, with no runoffs stemming from last week's primary.

“Fortunately, we were able to get through the primary election a week or two ago,” Rook said. “The November election is just too far out, but hopefully, we'll be in a different position in a few months.”

Chancery Clerk Sharon Livingston said there was no chancery court underway in Oktibbeha County at this time.

“As of right now, we don't have any court going on in Oktibbeha,” Livingston said. “I'm not sure if our judges are going to other counties or not, but we don't have anything scheduled for here.”

However, she said her office was also taking precautions, and had gone down to using two staff members on a morning shift and two on an afternoon shift.

“As of right now, our doors are open, but we're asking that only a maximum of 10 be in our office,” Livingston said

The Starkville Municipal Court has continued its docket for the time being, and is evaluating the situation on a daily basis. Payments for fines and tickets are still being accepted.