Jury trials on hold at least a week

BRIDGEPORT — The muchanticipated return of jury trials this week was put off for at least another week as COVID-19 positivity rates increased in the state.

Mock jury selections were conducted Friday to test safety precautions when the email went out that jurors called to sit between Nov. 2 and 6 were not to come in.

Court officials said they are going to take it on a day-to-day basis.

“At the direction of Chief Justice Robinson, the Chief Court Administrator, Judge

Patrick Carroll, has assured that all of the Judicial Branch’s efforts to resume jury trials would be guided first by the desire to protect the health and safety of all participants in the process,” said spokeswoman Melissa Farley.

“While our goal has been to resume jury trials on Monday, Nov. 2, the recent increase in positive test results statewide has caused us to pause the process so we may continue to reassess what we can safely do under these challenging circumstances,” Farley said. “Accordingly, the plan to have jurors report for

jury selection on Nov. 2 will be delayed and reassessed on a weekly basis.”

The Judicial Branch has already spent thousands of dollars to refit courtrooms around the state with plexiglass barriers in preparation, but defense lawyers and prosecutors say a new jury form crafted in response to the pandemic could bring down the jury system before it even gets restarted.

The new form allows those at increased risk of infection, including racial and ethnic minorities, to opt out of jury duty by simply checking a box on the new form.

“While I understand that the Judicial Branch is attempting to develop strategies to safely resume trials, this COVID-19 Exception Form fundamentally affects a defendant’s constitutional right to a jury of his or her peers,” said Frank J. Riccio II, president of the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. “This form invites those that the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) identifies as highrisk groups to identify as such in order to be excused. Racial and ethnic minority groups are first on the CDC’s list. This is troubling.”

The new form was mailed recently to prospective jurors along with their jury summons. It states: “If you still believe that you are unable to serve as a juror at this time due to a COVID-19 related reason, please check the box below that applies to you.”

The first box states: “I am in a group categorized by the CDC as needing to take extra care precautions against contracting COVID-19.”

The form then refers to the federal CDC website which states that members of “racial and ethnic minority groups” including people of color are disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

Superior Court Judge James Abrams is cochairman of the Judicial Branch committee that came up with the form. When asked, he said he did not know how racially diverse juries will be seated if jurors are given an immediate chance to be excluded from jury duty.

“We don’t know yet who is coming through the door,” Abrams said. “The jurors are going to start showing up Nov. 2 and we don’t know. Some people are culling themselves out by checking the box. Anecdotally, my understanding is it’s not a huge percentage, but I don’t have the numbers.

“We won’t know until they come through the door what the demographic makeup will be,” Abrams said. “Everybody is going to be very curious who comes through the door.”

Once in the courthouse, Abrams said, prospective jurors will be carefully analyzed on their ability to serve.

“The safety of everybody involved is far more important than getting things done quickly,” he explained.

Abrams said certainly there is a possibility of appeals if the jury pool is not racially diverse.

“We are building the train track as the train is going down the track so it’s certainly in the realm of possibility but we have to at least try,” he said.

Another change in the works: Because of safety concerns with the pandemic, the numbers of jurors being called into courts is being limited.

In Bridgeport, that means only 32 people will be called in for jury duty daily. Stamford will have a maximum of 34 prospective jurors a day and New Haven, 46.

When prospective jurors do show up to the courts, they will find a courtroom that has been radically altered with barriers around the judge’s bench and witness box. Jury boxes will be closed, and jurors will instead sit at least 6 feet apart in the spectator’s section of the courtroom.

In Bridgeport court officials said a few seats are being set aside for the public on a first-come, first-served basis. Other courts are still working out how to make trials public.

But there is still the question of starting jury trials at the beginning of what appears to be a new wave of the virus. Massachusetts has postponed jury trials until Dec. 2 because COVID-19 rates have increased there.

“This has always been premised on the positivity rate,” Abrams said. “There is going to be someone keeping their eye on the positivity rate and if it gets too high, we are just going to have to pull the plug.”

And while the new jury form asks if prospective jurors would be willing to serve remotely, Abrams said right now, that is not a likely scenario.

“Keeping the controls that make sure everyone gets due process would be rather difficult remotely,” he said.