This summer, select Texas trial courts will conduct experiments to determine best practices to start holding jury trials again while keeping all court participants safe from infection by COVID-19.

The experiments will cover ways to conduct jury trials both remotely and in-person — or perhaps a hybrid of both — following guidelines for social distancing and other infection control measures.

Experimental jury trials were authorized in a Texas Supreme Court emergency order released Wednesday. Even though the high court previously allowed courts to reopen to some in-person proceedings by June 1, in this new 17th emergency order, the justices made it clear that most jury trials are prohibited until Aug. 1. The exceptions are the jury trials that are part of the summer experiments.

Chief Justice Nathan Hecht. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht said that instead of opening the whole state to jury trials, Texas decided to conduct these experiments in a controlled fashion to avoid a scenario that played out in Ohio in late April.

A judge called a criminal case for a jury trial, only to cancel the proceeding because the defendant experienced difficulty breathing and went to the hospital. He and his criminal-defense lawyer were quarantined.

Read more: Ohio's First Post-COVID Jury Trial Was Set to Begin. Then the Defendant Nearly Collapsed

"It was a fiasco. Not only was it a waste of time, it was possibly infringing on the criminal-defendant's rights, and in any event, was threatening the participants' safety," Hecht said. "The preeminent issue is always the safety of the participants–and principally, the jurors, who are not volunteers. They are forced to be there."

Jury Trial Experiments

The Texas Supreme Court's 17th emergency order explained that the Texas Office of Court Administration is going to be coordinating with the state's regional presiding judges and county local administrative judges. Together they will allow a limited number of jury trials to proceed.