Nov 17, 2020 4 min read

Some restrictions are returning to Washington County’s courthouse and district magistrate offices because of the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in the region and state.

President Judge Katherine Emery signed the order Friday afternoon after meeting with the six other judges and court administrator to temporarily halt jury trials and encourage virtual legal proceedings when possible through the end of the month.

“There was a feeling I had that people were uncomfortable,” Emery said Monday. “The numbers are really alarming, actually.”

Washington County added 70 new coronavirus cases Monday, along with 9,675 new cases across the state since Saturday. Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday there has been “substantial community transmission” in 59 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, including Washington.

The renewed restrictions at the courthouse went into effect Monday and will continue through Nov. 30, although they could be extended if the upward trajectory of new COVID-19 cases continues. Emery said she began considering the new restrictions last week while preparing for jury selection Monday when many prospective jurors called her office raising concerns.

“There were a lot of phone calls, more so than we’ve experienced in the past couple of months,” she said.

“That got us thinking (and) contemplating that this isn’t the time to do these things.”

In addition to the pause in jury trials over the next two weeks, all nonessential proceedings or conferences will be canceled or moved to a virtual setting. Magisterial district courts are only open for bail hearings, preliminary arraignments, the issuing of search or arrest warrants, emergency protection from abuse hearings and for preliminary hearings if a defendant is jailed.

“That’s where we’ve had more COVID cases, particularly on their criminal days, there are a lot of people there,” Emery said of district courts that are often in small rooms or lobbies with numerous defendants waiting for hearings. “On civil days, they seem to be able to spread those out safely. The criminal cases tend to be in big groups.”

All common pleas offices in the courthouse, such as the prothonotary, domestic relations, clerk of courts and register of wills, will remain open.

She was not sure how long the restrictions may continue, but acknowledged that delays in criminal proceedings could be a deciding factor on when to return to normal courthouse business.

“We have to look at competing interests of litigants wanting to have their cases heard and the safety of people,” she said. “A lot of us have to train people on this new technology. I think we’ve done a good job, but there are impediments.”

The restrictions are similar but don’t go quite as far to ones Emery set forth in mid-March that effectively shuttered the courthouse to the public as coronavirus cases began increasing in Washington County. That order was also originally scheduled to last for two weeks, which Emery thought at the time would be sufficient to get through the worst of the pandemic, but lasted until the end of May.

“All I can remember, when I left (the courthouse on) March 13, I said, ‘This will be over by April 1.’ I don’t know why I thought that. We’ll meet again the week of Thanksgiving to make a determination (on the restrictions).”

The one jury that was to be empaneled Monday for a criminal trial was postponed before the order was issued, Washington County Court Administrator Patrick Grimm said. Two civil cases scheduled for trial this week were settled before the order came down.

Grimm reminded those who have received summonses for jury duty Nov. 30, Dec. 7 and Dec. 14 not to ignore them, but to continue to call for further instructions that will be recorded.

“We will be reevaluating at the beginning of next week,” Grimm said Monday.

He was not aware of any COVID-19 cases being transmitted though jury pools, although the district attorney’s and clerk of courts offices have had employees test positive in September and October, respectively.

Staff writer Barbara S. Miller contributed to this story.