SHELBY COUNTY, Tennessee —
One of our basic rights has stopped, a victim to the quarantines of the coronavirus pandemic. Jury trials aren’t being heard in Shelby County, because they haven’t figured out a way to have a jury practice social distancing. All other trials are being held, but the District Attorney for Shelby County says jury cases are continuing to pile up.
Jury boxes aren’t built for comfort. The seats don’t recline, and snacks are not allowed. Twelve citizens, twelve average folks, are jammed together to listen to courtroom evidence. They decide who’s guilty, and who’s not guilty.
Courthouses in most areas are some of the oldest facilities in cities and counties. The only social distancing then happened at the high school prom. The basics of justice haven’t changed.
“Every case we touch, 99% of them, there’s a victim attached to that case. Whether it’s a theft case, or whether it’s a very serious violent crime,” said Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich.
Nobody thought of coronavirus. Nobody designed a courtroom with a pandemic in mind. Same with the justice system.
“It put an end to our grand jury meetings,” Weirich said.
“It put an end to our jury trials. So we had to act quickly and figure out a way to get those things back up and running. We got the grand jury back. We’re doing that virtually. It’s a lot of work, but very important. People need to be processed through the system and the indictment is a very important part of that.”
The District Attorney’s office never shut down during the pandemic quarantine.
Weirich said,“The focus from day one has been those individuals in the jail. Let’s handle these cases and focus on other cases.
This has been a violent year in Memphis. The arrested suspects have a right to a jury trial. So something has to be done to get jury trials going again.
“They’re doing different things in different jurisdictions, using empty buildings, empty schools. I think there are ways to do it. You can kind of flip the courtroom around. Instead of piling the jurors in one spot, maybe spread them out in the back of the courtroom. It still poses issues,” Weirich said.