COVID-19 puts Ontario jury trials in limbo

On the eve of several high-profile criminal cases in local courts, including two for homicides in Windsor, the province has pulled the plug on jury trials due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“If you have received a summons for jury duty for an upcoming trial, do not attend court. Jury panels for upcoming civil and criminal trials are cancelled for the time being,” Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice announced in a notice issued Friday.

“If you have been called for jury duty, you do not need to attend. Do not go to the courthouse,” the notice continued.

Courts remain open and operations are otherwise continuing, although given the evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the courts are “working with the Ministry of the Attorney General on contingency planning in the event court operations are disrupted.”

Those experiencing symptoms are urged to stay away from the courts, but those with matters before the court are advised to contact the court office or their lawyer.

Jury trials for three major local criminal cases were among those set to get underway later this month: the second-degree murder trial of Habibullah Ahmadi for the 2017 Ganatchio Trail attack of senior Sara Ann Widholm; the first-degree murder trial of William Green for the 2018 shooting death of Mickey Homberg-chaplin and the drug conspiracy trial of a local pair linked to a fentanyl lab in China.

Jurors who have already been selected for duty or those sitting on trials already underway are unaffected by Friday ’s announcement. Some upcoming jury trials could possibly move forward as judgealone trials.

Under a Supreme Court of Canada ruling, court matters have a set time within which they must be concluded otherwise the charges risk being tossed out, but delays attributed to “exceptional circumstances” are permitted.