Mar 14, 2020 2 min read

Washington County Court is reducing functions to essential services over the next two weeks to determine whether other emergency measures will be necessary, according to President Judge Katherine Emery.

Accordingly, the court has implemented strategies to maximize safety for the public and employees:

• Juror summonses will be limited to encourage social distance in the selection process. Court administration may assign judges to other courtrooms to accommodate more space for prospective jurors.
• Jury notifications will be placed on the court’s website, http://www.washingtoncourts.us/, to apprise jurors that if they or family members are feeling sick, they can contact jury management to reschedule their service. Information will be placed on the website regarding the April trial term as it becomes available.
• Motions will be handled by telephone if consent is given.
• Contested motions will be argued by telephone or rescheduled.
• Scheduling motions for criminal cases will be handled by telephone or email.
• Continuances can be requested by telephone or email in advance of the court date, with the consent of the opposing party and 24 hours’ notice to the court. Applicable fees will be waived.
• Videoconferencing will be used for status conferences and guilty pleas.
• Scheduling of larger court lists will be staggered to avoid larger groups in courtrooms, which could be reassigned to maximize social distance among participants.
• Juvenile Court will hold emergency dependency hearings, and shelter and detention hearings. All other matters will be held at the discretion of the assigned judge.
• Initial case management conferences may be conducted by telephone.
• All district judge offices are directed to implement similar strategies.
• Court programming may be modified or canceled.

These safety measures have been implemented:

• Sanitizer stations are in the process of being installed in the courthouse and district judge offices.

Additional cleaning supplies have been ordered.