By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
Area courts are slowly opening up for more business, but people shouldn’t expect things to get back to normal for a long time. While jury trials started last month in Berrien County and will start this month in Cass County, courthouses are still mainly closed to the general public.
Berrien County Trial Court Administrator Carrie Smietanka-Haney reported that the county’s courts are currently in phase two of the state’s
court reopening plan. The Michigan Supreme Court announced its four phase “Return to Full Capacity” reopening plan in May and courts around the state have been following those guidelines since then.
Phase two of the plan allows for limited public access with an increase in court operations. Courts in Michigan were in phase one until June, a phase that restricted access and activities as well as postponed many proceedings. Phase three allows for more access and more court proceedings to take place while phase four is a return to normal.
Smietanka-Haney said the courts work with the Berrien County Health Department to determine whether COVID case numbers show that they can move forward into phase three. “We are not yet in a place to move forward to a less restrictive phase,” she said.
“We are not approved for phase three, maybe after Labor Day,” she told members of the county’s administration committee last week. “Everyone is waiting to see what happens with schools opening. The curve needs to be flattening before we can be less restrictive and go to the next phase.”
“Part of the guidelines from the Michigan Supreme Court is to follow health department guidelines,” she added. “We had been expecting to go to the next phase in July but that didn’t happen. Once we’re approved by the health department, then the state approves us to move into a less restrictive phase.”
She noted that phase three will allow more people to be in the St. Joseph and Niles courthouses but still doesn’t allow the general public to come in and still checks employees and visitors for symptoms. As for phase four, she said that won’t happen until there is no national pandemic emergency.
Smietanka-Haney did tell administration committee members that she and other county officials have changed their minds about where to hold off-site jury selection if and when that’s needed. The county had announced plans in July to rent the vacant Vineland Center in St. Joseph for jury selection when social distancing cannot be maintained.
She said last week that county officials have rethought that idea and are now planning to use the north end of the Niles courthouse for jury selection when necessary. The space to be used is the former office space used by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
She said she hadn’t been aware until a recent tour that that section of the Niles courthouse had been renovated and changed from several small offices to one large area. The space most recently has been utilized as a second, south county emergency operations center.
“We took a harder look at it and we think it will work very well for larger jury pools,” she said. “There’s work still to do to bring in wireless access and audio-visual equipment. We also would need to have a second sheriff’s deputy for that building to do security there part-time … I’m happy to say that it does save us a lot of money.”
The cost to use the Vineland Center for four months was estimated to be $60,000, with $32,000 for rent alone. As she outlined in July, jury selection would be done remotely with the judge and lawyers in Niles or St. Joseph courtrooms and potential jurors in a separate location.
She’s estimated that pools of 20 to 30 people are needed for misdemeanor jury trials where there are six member juries and pools of 50 to 60 people for felony trials which require 12 member juries. She said in late July that there was a backup of at least 115 pending felony trials and an unknown number of misdemeanor trials.
Smietanka-Haney said last week that the goal is to have the Niles courthouse space ready for use by the end of September as the county is slowly getting back to holding jury trials. The county’s first misdemeanor trials which require a smaller jury pool were held in mid-August and went smoothly.
The situation is somewhat similar in Cass County. Cass County Chief Judge Sue Dobrich said the county is also in phase two and is gearing up to start holding trials this month.
“We are looking to do a trial in mid-September in Circuit Court and we’re meeting this week to see if we have everything in place to do it,” she said. “We are in phase two so we will have to get permission to do so from the State Court Administrative Office.”
The general public will still be barred from attending trials in person but can watch proceedings on the county’s YouTube channel. Jury selection would be done at both the Law & Courts Building and the County Administration Building as well as virtual, she said.
Separate from all the changes brought about by the COVID pandemic, courts throughout Michigan must now allow people to bring cell phones into the courtroom after a Michigan Supreme Court ruling earlier this year. The ban on cell phones was actually lifted in May but has only really gone into effect recently due to COVID court restrictions.
Smietanka-Haney said rules are in place for cell phone and electronic device use at both courthouses. For example, devices must be placed on silent and people cannot take or make a phone call while in the courtroom. Video and photography are not allowed inside the courtroom and can only be done outside the courtroom with people’s permission.
Cass courts have allowed cell phones in their courtrooms for a number of years, so the Michigan Supreme Court ruling doesn’t require them to make any changes.
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