TEXARKANA - Local courts are cautiously moving forward with jury trials.
U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III of the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas is expected to oversee jury selection next week in a drug trafficking case. Rather than have all members of the jury panel report at once, they are slated to report at different times in smaller groups.
Plans are for those selected for service on the jury to sit in rows of seating usually filled by observors, so they can socially distance. Seats in the jury box put people shoulder to shoulder, too close in the age of COVID-19.
Exhibits won't be handled by jurors, prosecutors or the defense and extra time may be needed for people to leave and enter the courtroom so they don't move as a group.
Texas 5th District Judge Bill Miller, who serves Bowie and Cass counties, is scheduled to qualify two jury panels at the New Boston High School auditorium Thursday. The large auditorium will accommodate social distancing needs.
One panel of qualified potential jurors is expected to return to the auditorium on June 23 for jury selection in an aggravated robbery case before Miller. A second panel is expected to return June 29 for jury selection before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell in the case of a local pastor accused of sexually abusing girls.
Miller previously said he plans to hold the actual robbery trial in his courtroom at the Bowie County courthouse which is close to the high school auditorium. Instead of sitting in seats typically filled by jurors, the jury will be spread out in seats normally used by the public and media. Miller said he plans to livestream the trial so it will be public without the public being in the courtroom.
Because of the sensitive nature of the testimony expected at the sexual assault trial and the desire to protect the identities of the alleged victims, Tidwell is not planning to livestream. Instead that trial is expected to proceed in the auditorium so a larger group of people and jurors can be socially distanced.
Arkansas Circuit Judge Carlton Jones, who serves Miller and Lafayette counties, said the Arkansas Supreme Court put out new guidelines Friday stating that in-person trials in criminal cases may resume beginning July 1. The guidelines state that no more than 50 people should be in a courtroom at the same time, that all people in court should wear a face covering and socially distance at least 6 feet apart, and that health questionnaires and checks should be used.
Associate Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Robin F. Wynne wrote a brief opinion dissenting from the majority's order to resume trials. The dissent states, "This is simply too soon in light of the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Arkansas in recent days."
Jones said he expects to preside over a jury selection in Miller County in the last week of July.