Group of Jacksonville-area lawyers want to suspend in-person trials for 30 days

3 years ago 288

Group of Jacksonville-area lawyers privation to suspend in-person trials for 30 days

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Northeast Chapter of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is calling for the Fourth Judicial Circuit to instrumentality enactment successful the courts arsenic cases of COVID-19 proceed to surge.

More than 20 transgression defence lawyers signed and sent a missive to Chief Judge Mark Mahon. They privation to suspend in-person assemblage trials for 30 days, and they privation to bash proceedings implicit Zoom again.

Shannon Schott is the president of the Northeast Florida chapter. She said galore attorneys are disquieted astir the interaction the microorganism is having astatine the courthouse.

“As our members were getting sick, we were concerned, and past the clerks each got sick successful Clay County -- that courthouse is unopen down. Now there’s sick judges,” Schott said.

In June, in-person hearings resumed astatine the Duval County courthouse -- aft proceedings were held via zoom for much than a year.

“I deliberation Judge Mahon conscionable needs to recognize that we tin bash our jobs precise effectively, that we privation trials to proceed to hap and that is wherefore we are asking for this,” Schott said.

Mahon told News4Jax that precautions are successful spot -- from a disguise mandate wrong the courthouse to inmates being required to beryllium tested for COVID earlier their pretrial hearings.

“We don’t person unlimited resources successful the jailhouse to get the inmates virtually into the courtrooms. That becomes a problem,” Mahon said. “It besides pinches the nationalist defenders’ quality to pass with inmates successful the jailhouse due to the fact that we are throwing them disconnected those polycoms.”

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says much than a 3rd of the inmates successful Duval County are successful quarantine. A spokesperson said 96 person tested affirmative arsenic of 12:00 a.m. Friday.

Mahon said helium doesn’t privation to hold tribunal cases adjacent longer.

“There are radical who person been sitting successful the jailhouse for 18 months without the close to speedy trial,” helium said. “The judges and each the radical should beryllium precise acrophobic astir that and I cognize that they’re frustrated.”

Mahon says they are intimately monitoring the cases successful the community, but determination are nary plans to suspend immoderate in-person tribunal proceedings astatine this point.