{"id":22251,"date":"2020-04-05T10:44:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T16:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/?p=64073"},"modified":"2020-04-05T10:44:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-05T16:44:36","slug":"covid-19-shutdown-creating-constitutional-dilemma-in-colorado-courts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/covid-19-shutdown-creating-constitutional-dilemma-in-colorado-courts\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 shutdown creating constitutional dilemma in Colorado courts"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/04\/court-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/04\/court-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/04\/court-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/04\/court-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/04\/court.jpg 1240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption><strong>The Summit County Justice Center in Breckenridge. <\/strong><br \/><em>Summit Daily file photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>DILLON \u2014 Should a defendant have a right to a speedy trial, even if it could endanger members of the public?<\/p>\n<p>The new coronavirus shutdown has impacted almost every corner of society, and the criminal justice system is no different.<\/p>\n<p>The area\u2019s courts and elected officials have had to make numerous changes to keep things from grinding to a halt, and to help protect employees and members of the public from the illness.<\/p>\n<p>Fifth Judicial District Attorney Bruce Brown said COVID-19 presents entirely new challenges, which could pit constitutional rights against public health interests.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row shn-donation shn-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/02\/shn-logo-2x-wht.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/02\/shn-logo-2x-wht.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a chance that we\u2019re going to have to make some really hard decisions,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThe Constitution wasn\u2019t written with the idea that courts would be trying to do business in an epidemic. That\u2019s why so many of a person\u2019s constitutional rights involve things like confrontation, the ability to look somebody in the eye, and speedy trial, the ability to do things quickly and not have inordinate delays.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose constitutional rights are being tested by a virus that\u2019s requiring people to physically space and to let business that isn\u2019t an immediate public health issue be deferred.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, Brown wrote a letter to Gov. Jared Polis asking him to exercise his authority to temporarily suspend defendants\u2019 right to a speedy trial, which in Colorado means six months. That means that if a defendant insists on trial, members of the community could see jury duty notices start to pop up in their mailboxes despite the public health closures.<\/p>\n<p>For those who\u2019ve never attended a jury selection, the scene often involves a jam-packed parking lot, crowded hallways and sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with dozens of strangers on the courtroom pews. And once a jury is selected, the situation doesn\u2019t get much better in regard to mitigating person-to-person exposure, requiring gathering in the jury box and in the jury room for hours on end.<\/p>\n<p>There were about 25 trials scheduled in the Fifth Judicial District alone this month. Most of those already have been postponed, but Brown said cases could be kicked down the road only so far.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we get into May and June, we\u2019re going to be in a situation that the law doesn\u2019t really have any ready answer for,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to collaborate and continue cases, but at some point, we won\u2019t be able to anymore. And we\u2019ll either have to jeopardize our jury panel\u2019s health or dismiss cases for defendants whose right to a jury trial can\u2019t be afforded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brown\u2019s response will be to ask the district and county judges to declare that the circumstances are extraordinary and continue cases despite a defendant\u2019s objections, essentially temporarily infringing their right to a speedy trial.<\/p>\n<p>But it might be unlikely a judge would make that call. The district\u2019s Chief Judge Mark Thompson said the issue has been on his mind, as well, along with other judges around the state. Most have since adopted policies piggybacking on a mandate put out by Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Coats, which calls for cases with imminent speedy trial deadlines to move forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s becoming increasingly difficult to navigate,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to reconcile the public health orders and the tension we have with a statutory right to a speedy trial. At some point, we\u2019re going to have to face the issue. \u2026 But there isn\u2019t anything in the statutes right now that allows us to continue trials for a public health emergency. It simply doesn\u2019t exist in the statutory framework.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a dilemma. But I can\u2019t see any chief judge at this point say we\u2019re not going to have criminal trials. I haven\u2019t seen a compelling argument that would force that yet. But it\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thompson said the COVID-19 virus pandemic and subsequent public health guidelines would create a number of other issues once jury trials start back up, noting that prosecutors might have a difficult time compelling witnesses to attend, and that the orders would make it difficult for defendants and others to make it to hearings.<\/p>\n<p>Thompson continued to say that judges were looking to the state Legislature to provide guidance on the issue. But until that happens, the local justice system is bracing itself for what comes next. The best-case scenario is that courts are left with an overabundance of work over the next six months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to be taking at least a month and a half of trials and other hearings, and cramming them into the second half of the year,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to create some problems. But we\u2019ll figure out how to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/news\/covid-19-shutdown-creating-constitutional-dilemma-in-colorado-courts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Summit County Justice Center in Breckenridge. Summit Daily file photo DILLON \u2014 Should a defendant have a right to a speedy trial, even if it could endanger members of the public? The new coronavirus shutdown has impacted almost every corner of society, and the criminal justice system is no different. The area\u2019s courts and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 23:11:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}