Spokane County Times

Spokane County issued the following announcement on June 30.

Spokane County Superior and District Courts and Spokane Municipal Court will resume jury trials in July after pausing them in March (Supreme Court Order issued 3/20/2020) in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Extensive new safety precautions have been implemented to protect juror safety and public health as trials resume.

Jury summons and additional juror information have been mailed, with the first potential trials planned for the week of July 6, 2020.

Jury trials and nearly all public, in-person court activities were put on hold in March by Order of the State Supreme Court to protect public health and safety. The State Supreme Court Order is allowing resumption of jury trial on July 6, 2020.

Judge Harold Clarke, Judge Jeffrey Smith, and Judge Matthew Antush, the Presiding Judges of the three Courts issued a joint statement: “The suspension of jury trials was needed to protect the health of court users and court staff, and it provided us the opportunity to redesign our jury process with the input of public health officials. Now it is critical that we re-start jury trials, which are key to the fair administration of justice.”

New jury processes include enforcement of social distancing measures, requirement of wearing a face covering (unless exempted), routine appropriate surface and room cleaning, and availability of hand sanitization. It is critical that the citizens of Spokane County respond to their juror summonses when called upon to serve. Jury service may look different but it is still a vital component of our justice system.

Original source can be found here.