Finding a new way forward

Missan said he wouldn’t mind if the courts continued to use Zoom and other technology even after the health crisis passes, especially for simple proceedings that require just a few minutes in court.

“I think it could be a great time saver,” he said.

Krupka also said she’s been impressed by how smoothly virtual hearings have been going. She represented a client at an injunction hearing before Northampton County Judge

Abraham Kassis last month. She and her clients were in one courtroom, the judge was in another, and opposing counsel logged in from his office.

“The judge was being extremely careful to make sure everyone was heard,” Krupka said. “It was new for everyone, but I think my clients were satisfied. They also didn’t want to be in a courtroom with lots of people.”

In addition to what he expects to be a “horrible backlog” of cases when courts fully resume, Missan said he’s concerned about upcoming jury trials, which can’t be held virtually. That’s because defendants have the constitutional right to confront their accuser, and jurors are instructed to scrutinize witnesses’ demeanor to judge the validity of their testimony — a task that requires a front row seat to the witness stand.

Missan also thinks many potential jurors may balk at being crowded into a courtroom until COVID-19 is eradicated.

“People have to feel safe. Maybe there’s a way to put protective plexiglass dividers in the jury box, like ones they have in supermarkets” he said.

Krupka said she also thinking about how the coronavirus will change jury trials. In addition to her March med-mal trial,

Krupka had trials scheduled in May and June. With jury service canceled statewide through July, those trials have been rescheduled for August and November.

Jury selection usually requires a panel of about 75 people initially questioned in a courtroom together, before the group is winnowed down to 12 jurors and several alternates.

“The question is, how safely do we bring in that large of a panel of jurors?” Krupka said. “I think they’re being hopeful and trying to schedule cases in August, but I don’t know that’s going to happen.”

Lehigh County Judge Melissa Pavlack has been using teleconferencing to conduct protection from abuse hearings and other emergency matters since the pandemic began. Later this month, she’ll oversee adoption hearings, which are usually held in her chambers, via Zoom.

Pavlack said she and her fellow judges are glad that technology exists to safely allow people to have their day in court even while COVID-19 has ground much of society to a halt.

“We have to keep going. So many people are depending on us,” she said.

Morning Call reporter Laurie Mason Schroeder can be reached at 610-820-6506 or lmason@mcall.com.