CRIME & COURTS

Citing ongoing outbreak, Johnson County officials don't plan to resume jury trials just yet

Hillary Ojeda
Iowa City Press-Citizen

Citing the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak in Johnson County, officials plan to continue to postpone jury trials here until positivity rates come down across the county.

The Iowa Supreme Court ordered that courts could start resuming jury trials Sept. 14 after they were halted in March due to the pandemic.

It also issued guidelines for courts to ensure social distancing and other public health measures to prevent the spread of the disease once jury trials have resumed.

Judge Paul Miller, who serves in the state's Sixth Judicial District, which covers Benton, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Linn and Tama counties, said that, because local courts are given discretion in deciding when to resume jury trials and 14-day COVID-19 positivity rates are still well above 15% in Johnson County, local officials have decided not to resume such trials here next week. It's likely there won't be jury trials in the county for at least a couple of weeks because of the outbreak, he added.

"The safety of jurors and participants is our number one priority," Miller told the Press-Citizen.

'A week by week process' 

He said as soon as he saw the recommendations from two University of Iowa doctors that starting jury trials in mid-September would not be safe in Johnson County, he expressed his concerns to attorneys who had cases scheduled to be heard on Sept. 15. They agreed to postpone the trials.

"It's going to be a week by week process," he said. "We need to let this outbreak settle down before we let people in."

Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness expressed similar concerns. The county attorney's office is prioritizing the participants' safety, she told the Press-Citizen, but officials remain worried about the build-up of cases that have been on hold for the last six months.

"Postponing the cases right now is the only thing that makes sense," she said.

Still, it is hard on victims who are looking for justice, Lyness added.

Another concern for the community, she said, is the number of defendants who have been forced to wait in jail for their postponed trials.

The county's law enforcement agencies, the county attorney's office and judges worked throughout the pandemic to keep the jail's numbers low to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak there.

"The numbers are back up," she said. "That's a big concern."

► The latest, Thursday:819 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Iowa, including 53 in Johnson County; 20 new deaths reported statewide

On Aug. 30, two UI doctors wrote recommendations for jury trials to be postponed in Johnson County.

Dr. Daniel Diekema, a Division of Infectious Diseases Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine, and Dr. Frederic Gerr, a College of Public Health Emeritus Professor of Internal Medicine, both wrote statements about the danger of resuming jury trials.

In his letter, Diekema said that, at that time, Iowa City was among the top 3 cities in the U.S. for the rate of new COVID-19 cases per capita and in the rate of increase in COVID-19 cases, according to the New York Times.

Gerr wrote the outbreak was likely to continue for at least the next two to four weeks.

"At the current time and for the next 2-4 weeks (at least), I am seriously concerned about any indoor gathering even while wearing cloth/disposable face masks and/or face shields and maintaining a 6-foot distance."

► 'Outbreak in Iowa City':Johnson County sees third day in a row of positivity rates higher than 30%

On Thursday, officials reported an additional 819 cases across Iowa in the 24 hours between 10 a.m. Wednesday and 10 a.m. Thursday, according to Coronavirus.Iowa.gov. The state also reported 20 additional COVID-19-related deaths since the state's tally at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

The state was reporting a total of 4,694 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Johnson County, an increase of 53 since 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Miller said officials plan to wait a couple of weeks while they continue to monitor COVID-19 numbers here before making any plans to resume jury trials in Johnson County. He said each district court has discretion on when it will resume those trials, and didn't provide any details on how officials would make those decisions.

"The problem looking down the road is, COVID-19 is not going away," he said.

Hillary Ojeda covers breaking news and public safety for the Press-Citizen. Reach her at 319-339-7345, hojeda@press-citizen.com or follow her on Twitter at @hillarymojeda.

Your subscription makes work like this possible. Subscribe today at Press-Citizen.com/Subscribe.