The Office of Court Administration in a new report revealed that juror turnout was already down between 5% and 10% before the coronavirus pandemic hit Texas.
In the same report, the OCA said that prospective jurors in the state’s three virtual jury trials appeared to be more engaged than usual in the voir dire process — in large part due to the panel being divided into smaller groups.
Both findings were part of a 28-page report from Aug. 28 that the OCA made public Monday. The report included observations about the 20 jury trials that have been conducted in Texas since March as well as recommendations that the Supreme Court of Texas should mandate for the state’s courts in order to continue safely conducting jury trials going forward while the pandemic continues.
“A hallmark of our justice system is the right to a jury trial,” Supreme Court of Texas Chief Justice Nathan Hecht said in a written statement. “The pandemic has challenged our ability to safely deliver on that promise, but through the efforts of many Texas judges, clerks, court staff and attorneys over the past few months, today we have a roadmap to resuming those jury trials’ even if that roadmap will be restricted to ensure the health and safety of the public.”
The findings
According to the OCA report, the agency has approved 84 out of the 85 requests by Texas courts to conduct a jury trial since a May 28 emergency order issued by the Texas Supreme Court that prohibited jury proceedings until Aug. 1 unless the court obtained approval. Of those 84 approvals, 20 cases have moved forward to trial.
Of the 20 jury trials, 13 reached a verdict, one resulted in a mistrial, one resulted in a plea after a jury was qualified and five were still underway as of Aug. 28.
About 10% of jurors for the limited trials requested a COVID-related excuse. Almost all courts that proceeded with jury trials included details of courtroom precautionary measures with the jury summons, the report said.
The recommendations
Based on what the OCA has observed so far, it released 11 different recommendations for courts to safely conduct jury trials going forward, including:
- Limiting jury proceedings to district and county courts only through Dec. 31;
- Allowing all courts to conduct virtual jury proceedings in except for criminal cases that involve jail time at stake, which should only occur with the appropriate waivers and consent from the defendant and prosecutor;
- Requiring the local administrative district judge and presiding judge of a municipal court to submit jury plans for counties and cities consistent with OCA’s guidelines for conducting jury trial proceedings; and
- Obtaining a green light of the court’s plan precautions from a local health authority no more than five days before jury trial.
To read the OCA’s full report, click here.