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Law360 (February 25, 2021, 4:06 PM EST) -- Jury trials will remain on hold in Pennsylvania's second largest state court system at least until April, under an extension of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas' pandemic emergency orders issued Wednesday.
Citing still-high numbers of coronavirus cases in the county, the Pittsburgh-based court system issued another extension of emergency orders that had been in place since late August, placing an emphasis on conducting as many hearings as possible remotely via phone or videoconference, with civil and criminal jury trials now postponed until April 2 at the earliest.
"Due to the high number of positive COVID-19 tests in Allegheny County, ongoing efforts must be made to reduce the amount of people present in court facilities while keeping the courts open to the public," wrote President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark in her order. "During this period of time, all matters shall be conducted remotely via Advanced Communication Technology (ACT) and no in-person hearings or proceedings shall occur in any division of the Court of Common Pleas other than as set forth below."
After moving online at the onset of the pandemic, Allegheny County briefly resumed a limited slate of jury trials in October, using the largest rooms of its Downtown Pittsburgh courthouse and borrowing space in the city's convention center in order to allow sufficient social distancing during jury selection and trials.
But that plan ended Nov. 20 with an order pausing most in-person proceedings and conducting as much as possible online as the county's coronavirus cases spiked; Judge Clark has issued multiple extensions of that order since then.
The civil trial lists for both jury and nonjury cases remain suspended, the judge's order said. Criminal nonjury trials, motions requiring testimony from in-state witnesses and sentencing hearings where it is likely that an immediate prison sentence would be imposed can continue in person, but with as many people as possible participating remotely, the order said.
"No jury trials, nonjury trials or other proceedings which require the in-person testimony of out-of-state witnesses shall take place in any division until after April 2, 2021," Judge Clark wrote. "Pending further order of court, no jury trials shall take place until after April 2, 2021. The court shall continue to evaluate the circumstances regarding the positive COVID-19 cases in Allegheny County to determine an appropriate time to resume jury trials."
New cases peaked at more than 1,200 a day in early December but have since fallen to between 100 to 400 per day in February, according to data from the Allegheny County Health Department, although the court system has still been announcing court employees testing positive, including 11 since Jan. 22.
Philadelphia's state courts have also suspended jury trials through at least March 1. Similar orders in federal courts have paused jury trials until at least Feb. 28 in the Eastern District, March 1 in the Middle District and May 3 in the Western District.
Representatives for Allegheny County court administration declined to comment on the extension Thursday.
--Editing by Stephen Berg.
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