Jury Trials Returning To Lake County For 1st Time Since COVID-19

WAUKEGAN, IL — In-person jury trials are set to resume in Lake County next month for the first time since the emergence of coronavirus in Illinois. But first, the county is scheduled to make "virtual" history.

While hearings have been proceeding via Zoom video teleconferencing software for nearly a year, the six-person panel scheduled to be seated Wednesday to render a verdict on a civil case involving a traffic crash in Mundelein will mark the first remote jury trial in Illinois history, according to a court spokesperson.

Associate Judge Luis Berrones is due to preside over the trial, which is expected to be over by Friday. Berrones and a clerk the only people who plan to physically be inside the Waukegan courthouse during proceedings. Everyone else, from the jurors to the attorneys to the court reporters, will be participating via the internet.

Both attorneys have opted in to the smaller, remote jury in the case, which was first filed in October 2019. The summons sent to potential jurors included questions about what technology they had available, according to a court spokesperson.

In-person jury trials are scheduled to begin March 1, according to a notice from Diane Winter, chief judge of the 19th Judicial Circuit, to the Lake County Bar Association. Dates will be set in consultation with assigned judges and a county task force, which includes both judicial and health officials.

"The Jury Trial Task Force will continue to evaluate options that will safeguard due process while prioritizing the safety of all parties involved including jurors, attorneys, court staff, and the public," Winters said. "Guidance will continue to be provided by the Lake County Health Department, therefore, we ask all attorneys and parties in cases scheduled for trial to continue trial preparations."

Trials will be prioritized based on a series of factors Winter laid out last year in an administrative order. Factors include the nature of the charge, whether the defendant is in custody, the number of witnesses, the amount of time the case has been pending and whether the person charged has demanded a speedy trial.

Under the Sept. 3, 2020, administrative order, no more than two 12-person jury trials may be held at one time, and no more than 51 jurors may be called to the juror assembly room.

In order to maintain social distancing, court officials plan to seat only five jurors at a time in a jury box, while the rest will be seated in the gallery.

Jurors will be required to wear masks throughout the trial. The only people who will be permitted to remove their masks, when speaking, are witnesses and attorneys, according to a spokesperson.

"The judges are ready," said Kasey Morgan, assistant director of the circuit's judicial operations division. "It's just a question of the comfort level and level of preparedness of attorneys."