Judge Suspends Jury Trials in Chesco Due To COVID-19

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — Chesco's presiding Court of Common Pleas judge has suspended jury trials to mitigate COVID-19 spread, and said he anticipates the governor's mitigation order will be extended beyond Jan. 4.

Chester County Court of Common Pleas President Judge John Hall on Dec. 18 signed an order temporarily suspending jury trials until further notice due to COVID-19.

Hall's order said it comes in response to Gov. Tom Wolf's Dec. 12 limited-time mitigation order "in a further effort to limit the spread of COVID-19 infection throughout the Commonwealth."

Wolf's mitigation order remains in effect until the morning of Jan. 4.

Hall said that there are no jury trials currently scheduled between now and Jan. 4, 2021. The president judge's order said, "However, it is anticipated that COVID-19 infections will increase as a result of holiday activities and family gatherings at the end of December 2020 and that the indoor gathering limit of 10 persons will be extended beyond Jan 4, 2021."

The order continued, "Consequently, in addition to other recently undertaken measures to mitigate COVID-19 infection in the 15th Judicial District, jury trials will be suspended until further administrative order."

Because the temporary order could end by the date that a given trial is scheduled, the judge advised those scheduled to conduct jury trials to continue to prepare for trial.

The order added: "Any postponement of a criminal case caused by this administrative order requirement shall be considered a court postponement and constitute excludable time for the purpose of Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 600."

Chester County's website advised those called for jury duty to check before showing up. Information about jury duty in Chester County can be found here. The Jury Information Line number to call is: 1-800-223-JURY.

While new cases of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania slowed in the most recent week, the number of hospitalizations for COVID-19 grew. In Chester County, COVID-19 metrics measured Dec. 18 made a steady climb over the previous week, with hospitalizations for COVID-19 increasing locally, mirroring the state statistic.

The Chester County Health Department today reported 17,885 positive COVID-19 tests in the county and 463 deaths to date.