Somerset County courts returning to pre-pandemic procedures for scheduling criminal trials
SOMERSET COUNTY, Pa. (WJAC) — “By-the-seat-of-our-pants may be acceptable in an emergency, but it’s no way to run a court system for the long term."
That's a direct quote from a recent memorandum written by Somerset County President Judge Gregory Geary sent to county employees.
He says "the time has come" for the court to revert back to pre-pandemic procedures for scheduling criminal trials.
Somerset County Court Administrator Tammy Escalera told 6 News it's expected to bring urgency back to Somerset County courts.
"It seemed like the clients weren't taking their court summons as seriously. There have been a lot of people who just haven't showed up or haven't answered their attorney as to what's going on," said Escalera.
During the pandemic, instead of the defendants appearing before the court -- only their attorneys did -- to limit the amount of people entering the courthouse.
They will be returning to the old “cattle call” version of bringing defendants into the courthouse.
"That's a good 100 to 200 people within the courthouse on any given day, or on that call of the list day. So, all of those people have to be here. They have to come to the court," Escalera told 6 News.
Somerset County President Judge Gregory Geary writes in his memorandum:
The problem the court system faces is that the pandemic-driven practices of corresponding with incarcerated defendants by mail and utilizing video-conferencing for court appearances were never very effective to begin with, and have become less so the further removed from the pandemic we become. For instance, the flow of legal documents (e.g., letters, waivers, guilty plea questionnaires, etc.) from counsel to incarcerated clients and back is substantially delayed by Department of Corrections and county jail policies, making distance processing of cases unreliable and terribly inefficient. I’m convinced at this point that the only way to effectively move incarcerated defendants’ cases through the system is to bring them to Somerset County where they can meet with their attorneys, execute their paperwork, and appear before the court in person."They will also streamline the jury selection process again, lessening the number of panels.
"We can pick them all in one morning, or one day, versus having to have it spread out between two days," said Escalera.
Court officials tell 6 News the pre-pandemic procedures will be instated soon.
"We make them come here. We make them answer for it this way -- and then we have no question as to whether or not they've been served -- because they're here to answer for it for themselves. If they're not here, then the court can handle it in the appropriate manner," said Escalera.
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