It's been about 2 months since jury trials resumed here in Texas and the courts are still working to get caught up.
The courts closed in April of 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis and didn't fully reopen with jury trials until June first of this year.
There were a couple zoom trials and some socially-distanced trials. But Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht puts it in perspective.
"In 2019, the state of Texas tried about 9,000 cases to verdict. In the 14 months since March of last year until May of this year we tried about 230" said Judge Hecht.
That means about 8,700 cases were pushed back into this year, creating a huge backlog.
One of the first orders of business is to unclog the criminal courts, since those cases don't tend to move until a trial is set.
While the courts are moving, Hecht has an eye on the delta varient of the cornavirus and how it may affect trials in the weeks and months ahead.
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