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.
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 . . . .