If you’re up for jury duty in Habersham County, get ready to serve: The Mountain Judicial Circuit Court this week resumed jury trials for the first time since March 2020.
Jurors returned to the courtroom on April 5. Habersham’s COVID-19 Jury Committee developed the guidelines and procedures to help keep them safe. “I could not have been more proud of the effort this committee has shown toward making this idea a realization,” said Superior Court Judge Chan Caudell.
The move follows State Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton’s order on March 9, allowing jury trials to resume now that COVID-19 cases are declining.
The Chief Justice suspended jury trials when he first declared a Statewide Judicial Emergency on March 14, 2020. He lifted that suspension in October but reinstated it two months later because of a significant increase in coronavirus cases.
Convincing jurors they’re safe
Now that jury trials have resumed, the Chief Justice is working to assure jurors they’re safe. He’s doing that through a Public Service Announcement originally released in October in which he appeals directly to citizens.
A trial by a jury of one’s peers is “fundamental to the American system of justice,” and “I’m asking for your help,” Melton says in the PSA. “Every Georgia citizen is critical to this process. We cannot conduct jury trials without jurors, without you.”
Melton seeks to assure prospective jurors throughout the state that courts have put into place “the most rigorous safety protocols available.” As he touted Habersham’s protocols, Judge Caudell also thanked those who made the first day of jury trials possible, including Chief Judge Russell Smith for his “leadership and vision,” county IT Director Tracy Williamson, court clerk April Haygood, Britton Oxner, and Capt. Bryan Wright “for their willingness to show up early and stay late as we prepared for this day.”
As with previous orders, Melton’s March 9 order urges all courts to use technology to conduct remote judicial proceedings as a safer alternative to in-person proceedings where practicable and lawful.
The current Statewide Judicial Emergency is set to expire on April 8.
