Akron Municipal Court repurposed the basement of Oriana House‘s training center to hold jury trials during the pandemic.

Akron Municipal Court repurposed the basement of Oriana House‘s training center to hold jury trials during the pandemic.

Akron Municipal Court is scheduled to hold its first jury trial next week since courts were shut down by the pandemic, but given its physical limitations to comply with COVID-19 health and safety standards, the court has relocated proceedings to an offsite facility.

After several alternatives for the Harold K. Stubbs Justice Center were ruled out due to physical or logistical limitations, the court collaborated with a community partner, Oriana House, to use the nonprofit organization’s training center. The site became available when staff for the community corrections and chemical dependency agency began teleworking due to the pandemic months ago. It’s the latest cooperative effort in a decadeslong relationship between the two entities.

“This location was chosen with input from Summit County Public Health and I’m grateful for their assistance as well as the help we have received from Oriana House in allowing us to use the facility,” said Akron Municipal Administrative and Presiding Judge Nicole Walker.

"Summit County, in particular, is the kind of place that will collectively come together whatever the issue is. That’s engrained in our community," said Bernie Rochford, Oriana House's executive vice president of administrative services and business relations.

Since July, the court has cooperated with the health department on the modifications needed to maintain social distance because of concerns about the coronavirus. The space can hold up to 30 people following guidelines with six feet of physical separation. Everyone must receive a temperature screening upon entry and wear a face mask. Multiple stand-up hand sanitizers, and protective glass barriers, including between jurors, have also been installed.

“Every step of the way we've had the health department come over to the site. We would not be comfortable moving forward without their stamp of approval,” said court administrator Montrella Jackson.

Anticipating the expiration of a court order continuing jury trials through July 31, Judge Walker and her staff compiled a comprehensive guide and questionnaire to send as part of its jury summons. It contained not only a detailed explanation of the what to expect at the interim courtroom, but also health department specifics about COVID-19.

On top of symptoms to monitor, the court included qualifiers that would allow prospective jurors to be excused from serving. Examples consist of higher-risk citizens more vulnerable to the virus, such as the elderly or those with underlying medical issues; people who have symptoms or have tested positive in the past two weeks; or those who’ve been exposed to positive cases in the previous 14 days. All reasons must be accompanied by documentation from a physician.

“We’ve been working with all of the community stakeholders to make sure we've put in a well-informed message,” said Jackson.

In anticipation of more excusals, both the municipal court and the county’s common pleas courts are increasing the number of summonses sent for each trial.

Dozens of municipal courts trials were slated to begin earlier in August, but of the 41 cases scheduled for the month, 24 have been settled. Approximately,  95% of the trials are criminal and traffic cases. Prior to the tolling order being lifted, all criminal and traffic proceedings had been conducted remotely by video- or teleconferencing.

“It's all come down to the technology. We've had to lean really heavily upon our IT department, to make sure we get it as close to right as we can so that we're able to operate efficiently, “Jackson said.