In-Court Jury Trials Resume in Dallas County

From the West Alabama Newsroom–

Things are slowly starting to get back to normal around the state — after COVID-19 shut down activities that required people to gather in confined spaces.

The judicial system slowed to a crawl due to COVID-19. Non-jury trials continued during the pandemic — but jury trials completely stopped.

The wheels of justice are said to turn slowly. And they’ve turned even slower during the pandemic. Because COVID-19 put a stop to in-court jury trials.

Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson says in-court jury trials will resume in the county — this week.

“It’s been over a year since we had in court jury trials. Trying to get jurors here has been a struggle on things like grand jury and other things,” said Jackson.

Safety measures have been put in place in the courtrooms to make sure people are safe.

“Glass has been put up in the courtroom to help prevent the virus from spreading,” said Jackson.

“Glass is up blocking the jurors, the judges, the lawyers, the public is separated on the benches. So every kind of precaution is being taken to make sure we can go on and go forward. We can’t wait forever to start jury trials and so we’re thankful for this week to be able to get going again.”

Jackson says Raphael Clark is set to go on trial for murder in Dallas County.

He says 4 of the 5 counties in his judicial circuit — are resuming in-court jury trials.