Kansas county prepares for jury trials at the fairgrounds
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December 27, 2020
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — One northeast Kansas county is moving jury trials to a building on its fairgrounds to allow for better social distancing amid the pandemic.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the plan is for jury trials in Douglas County to resume Jan. 11 at the Flory Meeting Hall.
Chief Judge James McCabria said the jury selection room can safely seat up to 30 people at a time in addition to the judge, parties and court staff. Trials that need bigger jury pools will bring in panels at staged intervals.
Because court proceedings will be livestreamed on YouTube for public access for the time being, prospective jurors will not be addressed by name, but by number.
Trials will be held on the other side of the collapsible wall that divides the meeting hall in half. The space is big enough that the 14 chairs of the jury box can be distanced from one another.
Witnesses who testify will wear plastic face shields instead of masks so that jurors can see their faces, but so that there will still be protection from respiratory droplets.
"We believe anyone who participates in the process should feel safe with the distancing and other protocols that are in place," said George Diepenbrock, a spokesperson for Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health.
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