In-person juries return to Marysville court

The Marysville Municipal Court plans to resume jury trial in September with social distancing measures

In-person jury trials will resume in Marysville this September with changes to ensure safety and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The court resumed some court hearings in July that they could do through Zoom, however jury cases have been halted since March.

A few courts in the nation have tried to do jury trials through an online platform, but it often becomes a question of fairness for all the parties involved in the trial whether that is appropriate, which is why most have opted to adapt to in-person juries.

"There are too many things that can happen with technology," said Suzanne Elsner, Marysville's court administrator. With sudden disconnections, audio issues and other malfunctions, online juries open the court to a lot of problems.

"There's also the problem that people in their homes are more easily distracted," said Elsner.

The Washington state Supreme Court had ordered all in-person court proceedings to be suspended until July.

"We started Zoom trials for the hearings we could have without a jury but we made the decision to push back jury trials until September when we felt we could do it safely," said Elsner.

Because of the suspension the court does have a small backlog of jury cases they have to work through, said Elsner.

The Marysville Municipal Court has already sent out its first round of summons since March.

"The summons going out now is our normal jury summons, but we have added a COVID-19 questionnaire to it," said Elsner.

The questionnaire is meant to help the court identify those with high factors and those who have orders from their doctors to self-quarantine.

Those people are highly likely to receive medical excusals from the jury process, said Elsner.

Officials with the Marysville Municipal Court are working through how to safely handle jury trials.

"We searched for an offsite location for jury selection," said Elsner, who said they ended up at the Jennings Rotary Barn.

The chairs will be socially distanced and masks will be required during the selection process and in the courtroom.

Jury selection will be recorded through and broadcast through Zoom so that there is still a transparent record of the events.

At the courtroom the jury will no longer use their normal deliberation room, which is too small for social distancing.

"When we're ready for deliberation everyone but the jury will leave the courtroom," said Elsner.

Court officials, judges and local attorneys met on Sept. 3 to run through the jury selection process and discuss how to most fairly proceed with the restrictions of a pandemic.

"Just so that our judges, attorneys and prosecutors know what to expect when we return," said Elsner.