Jury trials resume amid pandemic in Cumberland County

That has changed in Cumberland County, which received permission from state judicial officials last month to resume jury trials with strict protocols in place to limit the spread of the virus. The first trial started on Oct. 15, and the second gets underway Tuesday.

Precautions start at the courthouse door, where everyone's temperature is checked by state-of-the-art thermometers. Anyone with a temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher cannot enter.

The pool of potential jurors is processed through three different rooms in two separate groups, starting at 8:30 a.m.

"We have additional jurors coming in at 10:30 in the morning [and] process them through the same three rooms to try to get 75, and then we start the actual jury selection at 2 p.m. on Mondays," said Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons, the chief resident judge in the county,

Multiple courtrooms are being used for each trial.

"We're using our large courtroom for the actual jury trial. We're using the courtroom next to that for the jury room," Ammons said. "That's were the jury will wait when we need to have them out of the courtroom, and that's where they would deliberate. This provides plenty of social distancing both in the courtroom and in the actual jury deliberations."

The judge said he hopes Cumberland County will be able to hold at least one jury trial per week, although two smaller cases might be able to be completed some weeks.

"I am, however, looking for some help from the legislature in terms of the way we do jury trials," he said. "I have long believed we don't need 12 people on certain criminal trials and even most civil trials. [Allowing] a jury of six folks would be a tremendous help."