Court looks to resume jury trials soon
The chief judge of Macomb County’s courts said jury trials could resume as early as February, but the number of COVID-19 cases needs to drop dramatically in the county before that can happen.
Judge James Biernat Jr. said Monday he is cautiously optimistic trials can resume next month, but reminded that the number of cases must fall below 70 people per million for seven straight days per a mandate by state court officials. So far this month the number of Macomb County cases is slightly over 200 per million.
The positivity rate, at 9.9 percent for January, also must stay below 10 percent for a week for
trials to resume. The rate was 10.7 percent as of last Thursday.
“We’re close on the positivity rate but we have 207 people per million (new coronavirus cases as of last Thursday); that’s way above what we have to have,” Biernat said. “The court can’t have jury trials until that goes down.”
The county’s population is nearly 900,000, meaning the number of new cases must remain at about 60 or below for a week. The number of cases on Monday was 151, according to the county coronavirus dashboard.
The number was 61 on Sunday, the lowest single day number since mid-September, but that may be an aberration. The average perday number of cases in the county for the week ending Saturday was 160.
Biernat hopes that with vaccines being administered in recent weeks, and holiday gatherings ending, the number of cases will start dropping in the county in the near future.
“It could take a while, but I can’t predict,” he added.
Also on Monday, court officials learned that Macomb prosecutors rejected a murder defendant’s proposal to conduct a bench trial in front of Judge Joseph Toia of Macomb County Circuit Court.
Marcus McLean, 36, accused of killing his girlfriend, Derica Blessitt of Warren, indicated he was OK with the trial being conducted in front of a judge instead of a jury. Judge Toia also would have rendered a verdict. The bench trial could have taken place Jan. 22 as scheduled because jurors wouldn’t have to come to the courtroom.
“My client is willing to go forward with a bench trial,” his attorney, Adil Haradhvala, told the judge during a pretrial hearing held over Zoom.
But Assistant Macomb Prosecutor Jordan Fields informed Toia during the hearing that the office’s administration wouldn’t agree to have the case tried in front of the judge. Fields said he couldn’t provide an explanation because another assistant prosecutor attended the meeting where the decision was made.
Toia suggested conducting jury selection over Zoom, presumably with the jury ready to go when a trial could take place. Fields said he was not able to agree to that “at this moment.” Haradhvala said he would agree jury selection to be held over Zoom.
Toia scheduled another pretrial for Thursday to determine if the remote jury selection could take place later this month.
Jury trials have not been held in the courthouse since the pandemic took hold in March, except for one held last fall. Lenny Whitfield in October was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and four counts of attempted murder for firing shots at a group outside an Eastpointe bar in October 2019, following a bench trial in front of circuit Judge Michael Servitto. The shooting killed Jared Glenn, 34, of Roseville, and wounded four people. Whitfield was sentenced to life without parole.
Blessitt, 27, was killed about 3 a.m. Sept. 29, 2019, in her home near Hoover and Toepfer about 3 a.m. Sept. 29, 2019, when McLean went to her home seeking sex and and they argued, police said. McLean allegedly shot her in the head with a handgun.
McLean, who appeared by video for the remote hearing, is charged with second-degree murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
Haradhvala’s attempt in early December to get McLean released due to a COVID-19 outbreak at the county jail was rejected by Toia, who said McLean is a flight risk. The judge did drop the bond from $1 million to $750,000.
To protect against the spread of the coronavirus, once jury trials are allowed, court administrators will allow only one jury trial per floor of the six-floor structure, with judges alternating weeks to be the first and second priority for trials.