Criminal jury selection and trials in federal courts in Connecticut have been pushed back from Sept. 1 to Nov. 2.

U.S. District Chief Judge Stefan Underhill of the District of Connecticut made the announcement via a posting on the federal court website. The announcement also states that—due to the COVID-19 pandemic—civil jury selection and trials are still slated for Sept. 1.

Underhill told the Connecticut Law Tribune on Thursday it was becoming evident that returning to criminal trials Sept. 1 was just not feasible.

"We had no choice but to push back the date of criminal trials because of concerns of jury safety, lawyer safety, the safety of defendants and the safety of court personnel," Underhill said.

Underhill continued: "Two things have to be true before we return to normal. It has to be safe and people have to perceive it's safe. There may be a period of time when we achieve No. 1 and when we achieve No. 2. Jury service is a civil responsibility, but it shouldn't be something where people fear for their safety."

The state's federal courthouses are located in Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford.

Underhill says he receives guidance on the opening of the federal courthouses from "watching what the government does, looking closely at what the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is recommending and by listening to the medical experts. We are also keeping a finger on the pulse of the community."

The coronavirus has and will force the court administration, Underhill said, to be creative and to think out of the box.

One possibility being considered, Underhill said, "is putting jurors in the gallery and the witnesses in the jury box. That way, people are more spread out."

Civil trials, he said, are resuming before criminal trials for several reasons, including the fact that, in most cases, more people attend criminal trials than civil trials, and it's harder to social distance.

"The public often doesn't show up for civil trials, and that's another reason why civil trials go before criminal ones," Underhill said. "Criminal trials also have 12 jurors and there is more interest in them than civil cases. Usually, in criminal cases, a victim wants to be present and you often have members of the media present."

While it's hard, Underhill said, to pinpoint how many weeks or months of a backlog there will be in cases due to the health pandemic, he did say, "we are approaching 300 defendants on the criminal side who need to have cases resolved either by a trial or guilty pleas. There is more of a backlog on the criminal side."

Safety protocols in the federal courthouses continue, the judge said.

"Everyone is required to wear a mask, and courtrooms have been marked off to enforce the six-foot rule," Underhill said. "Literally, we have blue painters tape that identify places to sit that are six feet away. It's all very frustrating, but we are in a pandemic and we really don't have much of a choice."

As of late Wednesday afternoon, and according to the office of the governor, Connecticut had recorded 45,653 cases of COVID-19 and 3,505 deaths from the virus.

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