Judges in the Eastern District of Texas have decided to close the federal courthouses in Texarkana and Sherman “effective immediately” and they will stay closed until Dec. 4 due to the increased number of COVID-19 cases in the state. Judges in the Marshall Division are granting all motions for continuances for jury trials through February.
In addition, the federal courts in the Northern District of Texas and the Western District of Texas have decided that there will be no more jury trials at any of its courtrooms for the remainder of 2020. The federal judges in Houston have delayed all jury trials until Jan. 19.
The Eastern District, in two separate announcements late Thursday, said that the Paul Brown Courthouse in Sherman and the historic federal courts building in Texarkana, which sits 50% in Texas and 50% in Arkansas, are being closed as “a precautionary measure out of concern for the health and safety of court employees, parties having business with the court and the public.”
U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, in an order signed Friday, said that “the court is persuaded that the current status of the public health in the Marshall Division of the Eastern District of Texas requires it to CONTINUE all in-person jury trials.
David O’Toole, a clerk for the district courts in the Eastern District of Texas, told The Texas Lawbook Friday morning that the judges in Texarkana — both with the Eastern District of Texas and Western District of Arkansas — decided to close district court operations in the courthouse after two non-court federal employees in the building tested positive for COVID-19 “out of abundance of caution.” Another factor for the closure was the general spike in coronavirus cases occurring, he said.
O’Toole said he had no information at this time about plans to close the courthouses in the other divisions in the Eastern District — Plano, Marshall, Beaumont, Tyler and Lufkin — but he didn’t rule out the possibility of other divisions following suit.
“All of our judges around the district are always evaluating the risks,” he said. “As you know we have a huge geographical district. The situation on the ground can be quite different from division to division.”
In a separate order issued Thursday, Chief Judge Barbara Lynn of the Northern District of Texas announced that its judges are rescheduling all civil and criminal jury trials through Dec. 31.
“Due to the court’s reduced ability to obtain an adequate spectrum of jurors and the limited availability of attorneys and court staff to be present in the courtroom because of serious public health considerations, the period of exclusion under the Speedy Trial Act is extended through Dec. 31, 2020,” Chief Judge Lynn wrote.
“The court finds that the ends of justice served by ordering continuances in criminal cases in the Northern District of Texas outweigh the best interests of the public and each defendant’s right to a speedy trial,” Judge Lynn wrote.
Chief Judge Lee Rosenthal of the Southern District of Texas issued a statement Thursday that the judges in each of the seven divisions in the Southern District are deciding when to resume jury trials in that division, based on local conditions.
“Safety is our top priority. Because community conditions differ, each division is separately deciding when to resume jury trials,” Chief Judge Rosenthal said. “For example, the Houston Division is resuming jury trials on January 19, 2021, with a detailed plan in place to provide as safe an environment as possible. Most of the other divisions plan to resume jury trials soon thereafter. We are following all requirements for social distancing, masks, and cleaning at every step in every trial.”
In the Western District of Texas, Chief Judge Orlando Garcia issued an order Thursday stating that “all civil and criminal jury trials scheduled to begin on any date from now through Dec. 31 are continued to a date to be reset by each presiding judge.”
All of these orders come a few days after a federal jury trial in Sherman, which is in the Eastern District of Texas, was declared a mistrial because more than a dozen participants in the trial, including two jurors, tested positive for COVID-19 during the trial.
The Eastern District email stated that the federal courthouse in Plano will remain open.
Legal experts said they expect judges in other state and federal court jurisdictions to follow Chief Judge Lynn’s lead in shutting down jury trials for the rest of the year.
