Protocols laid out for sentencings

NORRISTOWN » With the goals of safety and delivering timely justice in mind, Montgomery County Court officials said sentencing and guilty plea hearings will resume next week but with special protocols in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Our first goal is safety — keeping people safe. Our second goal, described by the word ‘justice’, is meant to cause us to focus on delivering justice to those who need it in a timely and appropriate manner,” court officials wrote in a mission statement drafted for the reconstitution of court operations.

Those sentencing hearings will look much different than they did before the COVID-19 outbreak brought most court functions to a screeching halt in March.

Officials will limit the types of matters that are undertaken, limit and space the scheduling of

matters and limit the number of people in the courthouse and courtrooms, including judges and staff. Initially, officials expect to hold about 25 sentencing hearings each week.

“We will use advanced communication technology whenever possible, but it is important to recognize that for justice to be delivered, it can’t just be convenient. It must be true and accurate. As a result, not everything can or will be handled remotely. Some cases will need to be handled more traditionally,” officials said.

While sentencing hearings will resume, jury trials aren’t expected to resume for several weeks or months.

Sentencing hearings

Modified courtroom procedures will provide for sentencing proceedings for individuals who previously entered guilty pleas or who have been convicted after a trial.

Beginning June 1, one courtroom will be available daily to conduct sentencing

hearings. The courtroom will be staffed with one court clerk and one court reporter, along with the judge. The court clerk and the court reporter may participate in-person or remotely, at the discretion of the judge, according to the protocols.

Sentencing hearings will be scheduled at intervals of one hour each, with no more than six scheduled during any given day.

Judge Steven T. O’Neill will preside over sentencing hearings the week of June 1 and Judge Thomas C. Branca will preside over the hearings the week of June 8. Judge William R. Carpenter will preside over the hearings during the week of June 15.

For defendants who are incarcerated, absent an objection from the lawyers, the defendant will appear via video-conferencing technology from the county jail. If a defendant objects to proceeding by video, the sentencing hearing will be postponed until a later date when the defendant can appear in person.

Under emergency judicial orders regarding COVID-19 safety precautions,

defendants currently cannot be transported from the county jail to the courthouse.

Defendants who are not incarcerated shall appear in the courtroom for their sentencing hearing, along with a prosecutor and a defense lawyer. The offices of the district attorney and public defender have been directed to limit the number of lawyers from their offices from coming to the courthouse by having lawyers handle multiple sentencings on each day, even if not assigned to the particular cases.

The lawyers have also been directed to minimize live witnesses in the courtroom, by encouraging submission of written statements or prerecorded video statements of any witness not subject to cross examination.

Witnesses will appear by using the Zoom video platform. Unless specifically permitted by the presiding judge to be in the courtroom, all witnesses will appear by Zoom video format, according to the plan.

Guilty plea hearings

Protocols for plea day hearings will mirror those adopted for sentencing hearings.

If an agreement is reached on all matters related to a defendant the case will be scheduled for a plea to be entered on a specified date and time. Numerous negotiated guilty plea hearings, where the terms have already been worked out between prosecutors and defense lawyers, are expected to occur on one day each week.

Judges will also accept so-called open pleas, those in which no agreement on sentencing has been reached.

Defendants who are incarcerated will appear by video from the county jail. Defendants who are not incarcerated will appear in the courtroom, unless arrangements have been made in advance for the defendant and defense lawyer to appear by video using the Zoom platform.

Defendants are to complete all required colloquies in advance and all parties must be prepared to commence the hearing at the scheduled time, officials said.

Following the entry of a guilty plea, a defendant who will be awaiting sentencing will be instructed to contact the Adult Probation Office to arrange for an intake interview. Contact with probation officials will be accomplished with safety precautions, officials said.

The offices of district attorney and public defender each will provide a single lawyer to attend court hearings on each day to address these matters to avoid any possibility of multiple public defenders or multiple prosecutors being present in the same courtroom or in the courthouse on the same day.

Other precautions

Officials said all participants, including witnesses, who appear in-person, must comply with courtapproved safety protocols regarding courthouse operations. That includes the obligation of all people coming into the building to be subject to health screening and temperature checks.

All people in the courthouse must wear face masks and attendance in the courtrooms will be limited and social distancing will be strictly enforced, officials said.

Sentencing and guilty plea hearings will be scheduled in the courtrooms on the plaza level of the courthouse, immediately adjacent to the sole operating entrance to the courthouse on Main Street.

“This will minimize the distance and time that anyone must remain in the building,” officials said. “The proceedings will be scheduled to allow for sufficient time for parties to leave the building before the participants for the next scheduled proceeding will arrive. This time will also be sufficient to allow time for surfaces to be disinfected between proceedings.”

Officials said water pitchers, glasses and Bibles will be removed from the courtroom to avoid coming into contact with those surfaces.

Protocols have also been crafted in a way to minimize the transfer of paper documents and exhibits in the courtroom, with many to be filed electronically prior to a hearing.