Courts function with help of modern technology

Alaska’s courts are not only open for business despite the COVID-19 pandemic they are doing business every day, performing the essential functions of the judicial branch, according to a press release from the Alaska Court System. Since March, when the pandemic first impacted public life, 174,952 hearings have been held.

Jury trials have been suspended but other types of cases have moved ahead. Most cases are resolved without a jury trial.

Technology statewide is helping to ensure COVID-19 doesn’t spread in the judiciary. The court has moved resources online.

Cases can be filed by email, bail can be posted and filing fees can be paid online. Zoom has been used to hold presumptive death trials, grand jury proceedings and jury selection in a juvenile delinquency trial with participants on video. The appellate courts now can hear oral arguments for appeals in criminal and civil cases via Zoom and also livestreamed for public access on Gavel Alaska and on the Court System’s You Tube channel.

The court has a website for COVID-19 response and it is regularly updated as the situation with the pandemic changes. Included on the website are courthouse safety precautions, special orders from the Chief Justice and presiding judge.

Recently the Alaska State Troopers delivered two prisoners infected with the coronavirus from Kotzebue to Anvil Mountain Correctional Center. Every person who arrives at a DOC facility gets a test and is quarantined for 14 days before they are released into the general population. According to Kotzebue’s city manager, new prisoners there are not tested for COVID unless they display the symptoms of the disease.