It’s been a long year for the courts of Louisiana. Once COVID was found in Orleans Parish and other courts across the state, the Supreme Court slammed the doors and put trials on indefinite hold.
Now that it appears we're on the backside of the epidemic, Louisiana's court system is returning to operation today.
WWL spoke with Loyola Law Professor Dane Ciolino,
“It’s been a long time coming for these trials, the lack of jury trials has caused civil cases have piled up and not been settled. Criminal cases have not been set for trial either and defendants have been in jail longer than they normally would have.”
Ciolino says courts will need to prioritize trials, with criminal matters likely getting the first slots of what he expects will be very crowded dockets as courts struggle to return to normal.
One major factor is the configuration of courtrooms in a post-pandemic setting.
“It is going to be a significant challenge. Obviously courts are not structured for the social distancing that is called for by the [Center for Disease Control],” Ciolino says. “Judges are just going to have to make due, probably put the jurors in the gallery spaced out in the pews where the spectators would usually sit.”
Meanwhile, finding enough people for a jury pool is another concern.
“It’s something that needs to be done, the justice system can’t function without a jury.”
But, Ciolino says judges are pretty good at seating jurors unless they've got really good excuses for not participating.
“Judges will hold potential jurors' feet to the fire,” he says. “They’re not quick to excuse people unless there’s good excuses. I imagine judges will hear many more excuses. But these trials need to get set, these jurors need to be impaneled, and these cases need to be tried and resolved.”
Ciolino says lawyers are also chomping at the bit to get back to business and that means getting into court to try cases.
“Lawyers aren’t preparing for trials, aren’t billing hours, aren’t settling cases, getting fees,” Ciolino points out. “It’s no doubt for lawyers their work has been down. Because without the threat of jury trial, cases don’t settle.”
