Month: May 2020

Apparently the powers-that-be in the 22nd Judicial Circuit, after what can be best described as a Fellini-esque en banc meeting, are going to attempt to conduct a single jury trial the week of June 22nd — presumably as a test run.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/st-louis-city-hall-to-reopen-june-1-city-courts-eye-june-22-for-a/article_93689800-4893-5598-8bb5-1d983f019fa0.html

The idea, I suppose, is to see how things work, to see what problems arise, if there are any unforeseen issues, etc., so that they can figure out how to run trials on a larger scale. Of course the COVID numbers in the City will have to cooperate (so that the City can operate at the Missouri Supreme Court’s Phase 1; presently we are at Phase 0) for this to happen. With the present trend, things don’t look promising.

Of course, there are serious problems with starting trials at this time. Not just in terms of logistics, e.g., social distancing issues, masks (for some silly reason, I don’t think a criminal defendant in court wearing a mask is a good idea, but I digress), persons not showing up for jury service, etc. — which is what I think the judges are focused on — but more importantly in terms of who in their right mind believes that a criminal defendant could get a fair trial under these conditions?

Not a single criminal defense attorney I’ve talked to thinks so.

But ours is not to reason why . . . .

Last week, after more than a year of legal wrangling, Judge Moriarity granted citizen Charles Lane’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner from using hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds to pay numerous outside law firms for representing her in the myriad legal troubles she has had since taking office — including the Greitens case, the investigation of her office by a special prosecutor; the indictment of her hand-picked, outside investigator, William Don Tisaby; the defense of ethical complaints to the Missouri Bar; her federal lawsuit alleging a racist conspiracy to hamper her efforts (where Lane is one of the named defendants); her attempt to free convicted murderer Lamar Johnson; etc.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/judge-blocks-st-louis-circuit-attorney-gardner-from-paying-outside-law-firms/article_2cf4728a-59e2-5f36-914c-9abecd4f07e1.html

In granting the injunction, Judge Moriarity indicated that Lane’s underlying suit to fully stop the City from making payments for Gardner’s outside legal expenses has a significant chance of success on the merits.

Of course, Ms. Gardner indicated that she plans to appeal the court’s ruling. In other words, incur even more legal expenses that she will want citizens of St. Louis to pay for.

Presiding Judge Burlison’s most recent order (May 17) indicates that the City will remain operating at the Missouri Supreme Court’s Phase 0.

http://www.stlcitycircuitcourt.com/xml/judges/COVID-19%20-%20Administrative%20Order%2021.pdf

That means, in a nutshell, no in-person hearings unless absolutely necessary, and entry into the courthouse requires a court order and a mask.

That order will remain in effect indefinitely, and until the City has fourteen days of “improvement” in COVID-19 numbers. At that point, the Court can move up to Phase 1.

Below is a graph which shows the number of COVID-19 cases – the blue line – in St. Louis City.

As you can see, the numbers have steadily been increasing. We’ve not yet even hit the peak.

The Missouri Supreme Court, in its order pertaining to reopening of Missouri Circuit Courts, has indicated that for a Circuit to move from a Phase 0, where the 22nd Judicial Circuit is presently, to a Phase 1, that Circuit must be able to show “improvement” over the preceding 14 days (the virus’ incubation period). As the number of cases in the City has not decreased – which can be the only metric the Supreme Court was referring to in terms of improvement – I do not see how we can reasonably expect to be moving to a Phase 1 anytime in the near future. Even if the City’s numbers began falling today, they would have to continue to fall for the next two weeks for the 22nd Judicial Circuit to be able to apply to the Supreme Court for a Phasee 1 designation.

Judge Burlison said at the En Banc meeting yesterday that his order pertaining to the 22nd Judicial Circuit’s shutdown should come out later this week. At this point, it seems a sure bet that we are going to remain at Phase 0 for some time.

I have no idea — yet — what the plan is for the City’s phased in operation. But, this is the topic of the En Banc meeting scheduled for Monday, May 11, 2020, at 2:00 p.m.

You can attend via video-conferencing. The directions for registering are here:

http://www.stlcitycircuitcourt.com/En%20Banc%20Agenda.pdf

Jackson County has suspended all jury trials, like the Feds, through July 5th. Considering St. Louis is the hottest spot in the state for COVID-19, I’d expect the same sort of schedule. But, we’ll see.

Stay tuned.

The presiding judge in the Eastern District of Missouri, Rodney Sippel, entered an order today that will suspend all jury trials in that jurisdiction until July 5, 2020.

https://www.moed.uscourts.gov/sites/moed/files/documents/news/Order-05-07-2020.pdf

Danielle Pogue, the Assistant Criminal Docket Controller in the City, has put in notice. She is leaving and taking a position with Rick Sindel and Sarah Boyce.

Danielle is competent, hard-working, and sharp. She will do well.

I will miss her.

The Missouri Supreme Court has finally given us an order for gradually opening the courts toward normality.

https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=156093

It’s essentially a four-step plan (levels 0-3) that gradually allows more in-person proceedings to take place based on a particular court’s COVID-19 situation. Theoretically, this will permit areas that have low COVID-19 threats to more rapidly move back to normality, and allow other areas with greater and more significant threats to move more slowly.

As St. Louis City has the most cases of COVID-19, and it seems we have yet to peak, it would appear that the 22nd Judicial Circuit would be most likely to have the slowest transition back to normalcy.