Courts across Massachusetts are taking a variety of approaches to public safety as the highly infectious omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to spread, including among court staff and visitors. Courts' hodgepodge responses range from pausing jury trials to shifting to remote operations.
“Right now, it's kind of a chaotic situation where different courts are proceeding in different ways,” said John Amabile, president of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He said public safety is the paramount issue and that all courthouses should limit the number of people in their buildings for a period of time.
None of the courts in Massachusetts require proof of vaccination to enter. That goes for a wide variety of people who show up, including jury pools, judges, attorneys and witnesses.
The most recent pandemic response came from a conference of federal judges on Monday, who decided to suspend jury trials across the state until Jan. 28, while evaluating the impact of the pandemic on a weekly basis until then. Trials scheduled after Jan. 28 may remain on the calendar at the discretion of individual judges.
Last week, the Supreme Judicial Court announced it would pause all jury trials in state courthouses until Jan. 31, although courts would remain open for in-person business.
The Trial Court system also recently decided to suspend jury trials for the entire month of January, and issued an order outlining changes to court operations. The system also reduced the number of staff working in-person to no more than 50% of the total number of staff at a time, and reduced facilities personnel. The Trial Court plans to use remote operations whenever possible, although in-person proceedings are continuing if they can’t be remote.
A new health screening is in place this week asking anyone walking into a trial courthouse if they have a high temperature, feel unwell, have received a positive coronavirus test or knows they were exposed to the virus. The Trial Court also tightened its mask requirement so that gaiter, bandana masks and face shields are no longer allowed.
The Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers sent a letter last week to Trial Court Chief Justice Paula Carey, urging further action on the increase of COVID-19 cases. The organization is asking for Carey to minimize the number of people appearing in-person, expand virtual conferencing, and for the clerk’s offices to accept court filings and records by email or fax, uniformly across all of the Trial Court system.
“The experience of our lawyers throughout 2020 and 2021 has been that practices have unfairly varied by county, courthouse, and by judge,” said Amabile in the letter. He also expressed concerns over detained clients, who might have their trials delayed through necessary suspensions.
Closures continue across the state, and are imminent. Haverhill District Court closed on Wednesday and reopened Thursday after a number of people who were at the courthouse this week tested positive for COVID-19.
The South Boston Division of the Boston Municipal Court was also closed Wednesday after several staff in the Clerk’s Office were either exposed to COVID-19 or tested positive. The court is expected to reopen on Jan. 10.
