MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Jury trials have been suspended for months in Shelby County because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but beginning Thursday, they will be allowed to resume.
However, a Shelby County judge said he and fellow judges are having a tough time finding defendants who want a trial as coronavirus concerns continue to loom.
“Right now I’ve got 17 murder first-degrees set for trial and none of them want to go,” said Judge
Chris Craft.Craft said it boils down to the jury pool, a concern a local defense attorney shared with WREG.
“We have a lot of people who are affluent who live in the suburbs who are doing fine. They’d be glad to serve on jury service, but a lot of our people in the inner city that are disproportionately affected by the virus would not be able to, so our jury would be skewed,” Craft said.
Should a defendant agree to a trial, Craft said there’s a plan in place to ensure it’s conducted as safely as possible.
Jury selection will take place in the auditorium at 201 Poplar so that the 40 or so potential jurors can be sufficiently spaced apart.
There’s a 10-person limit per courtroom excluding court personnel, jurors and attorneys. Masks will also be required and jurors will be spread around the courtroom rather than being confined to a jury box.
One of the ten courtrooms at the Shelby County Courthouse is also equipped with glass partitions.
“If I have a defendant and if I have a prosecutor and a defense lawyer who all want to try the case, I’ll try it next week,” Craft said.
A Shelby County civil court judge told WREG that civil trials won’t resume until next year in order to give criminal cases priority.
