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State Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye on Tuesday (March 17) issued an emergency order enabling the San Mateo County Superior Court to mitigate the effects of the rapidly spreading coronavirus.
San Mateo County Presiding Judge Jonathan Karesh has ordered that all trials be suspended for up to 30 days and the time limits on conducting preliminary hearings be continued from 10 court days to 15 court days.
All jury trials will be rescheduled to new dates beginning on April 7, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
“This will cut down on the thousands of jurors that appear in court,” he said.
The time period in which someone is charged and brought to court, which is an in-custody arraignment, has also been changed from 48 hours to five days, Wagstaffe said.
The court’s goal is to reduce its staff down to 11 judges. It currently has 28. Wagstaffe said he has reduced his staff in the workplace by 55%.
“We are all telecommuting from home,” he said. “It keeps people out of the workplace so they can shelter in place.”
“If there is room to send more people home, we will do so,” he added. “We will reassess the situation in two weeks.”
Suspension of trials and all traffic matters have taken effect, he said. All other changes will take effect March 18. People who have misdemeanor arraignments or misdemeanor pre-trial conferences, family law, probate, civil, small claims, or traffic hearings scheduled between March 16 and April 15 will be notified by mail of their new court date.
Traffic court is closed through April 7 and all hearings between March 18 and April 7 are excused, according to the court’s website.
The presiding judge also ordered that the following matters be continued or rescheduled: all civil and small claims matters, all criminal matters unless the defendant has invoked his constitutional right to a speedy trial or speedy preliminary hearing, all traffic matters, and nearly all family law and probate hearings.
With few exceptions, the court will be closed to the public beginning March 17 through April 7.
“The courts are continuing a number of matters,” said Lisa Maguire, chief defender in the county private defender program. “People are coming to court thinking they were moving forward with their case, and now we’re seeing a new and problematic situations.”
For now, the order is allowing the courts to operate on a limited basis until April 7, Maguire said.
“We’ll take it day by day and see how it goes,” she said. “One thing we know is that keeping people in custody requires keeping them in close quarters.”
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Find comprehensive coverage on the Midpeninsula’s response to the new coronavirus by the Almanac, Mountain View Voice and Palo Alto Online here.
So I guess this means if you were summoned for Jury Duty on the 23rd you are excused? I wonder if they will reschedule you for when the courts open again or if you are excused for a year?
Brian, it means you will be excused from jury duty for the year. You will not be rescheduled.