Jury trials in Baxter County will resume on Monday after being suspended for more than a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Arkansas Supreme Court in mid February gave lower courts the green light to resume jury trials beginning May 1. The state’s highest court in March 2020 had ordered that jury trials be halted as the state wrestled with the coronavirus outbreak.
David Ethredge, the prosecuting attorney for the 14th Judicial District, talks about the delay in trial cases.
Listen:
Non-jury proceedings like arraignments, routine docket calls and certain hearings continued to take place over the past year while jury trials were on hold. Still, the inability to hold a trial created a backlog of pending cases. In Baxter County, there are almost a dozen pending murder or manslaughter trials that will begin being heard at the fairgrounds Monday.
Ethredge says one benefit to hearing those cases at the fairgrounds is that it will not tie up courtroom space at the Baxter County Court Annex for other proceedings.
Listen:
The fairgrounds’ Education Building will be used as a courtroom. Ethredge says there is quite a bit of behind-the-scenes work that must be done before jurors report Monday.
Listen:
Work must also be done to prepare a jury room and ensure that both jurors and spectators have plenty of space, Ethredge says.
COVID-19 precautions will be in place during the courtroom proceedings.
Listen:
Ethredge says that maintaining social distancing should not be a problem inside the Education Building. He expects the structure could hold more than 150 under standard social distancing requirements.
The Baxter County Fairgrounds is located at 1507 Fairgrounds Drive in Mountain Home.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI