Jury box

As key metrics on the spread of the coronavirus remain low in New York state, officials say the Unified Court System has started to summon upstate residents to sit on grand juries and report for service in mid July.

"This milestone development follows several weeks of careful planning and coordination with our justice partners, during which we have identified and retrofitted appropriate space and developed new protocols to ensure that grand jury proceedings will be safely conducted," Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said in a video statement posted Monday.

People serving on grand juries will be physically spaced out, but the specifics on that will vary depending on the layout of the building, said Lucian Chalfen, a state court spokesman. There will be other measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, including screenings and mask wearing.

"You have to put the call out to see what the response is," he said when asked if people will opt out of serving on grand juries due to the coronavirus and fears of infection.

Sandra Doorley, the president of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York, described grand jury proceedings as a "very necessary" part of the criminal justice system. The process, she said in a statement, secures civilian witnesses and preserves testimony. 

"I trust that precautions such as proper social distancing, wearing of masks and thorough cleaning will be undertaken," said Doorley, who also serves as Monroe County district attorney, in the statement. "I know that new larger spaces are being identified where grand jurors can be spread out during voir dire and actual proceedings."

Earlier this year in a letter to the state court system, the district attorneys association said there should be a process for grand juries to be impaneled as a first step in court reopenings in areas with lower infection rates.

As the coronavirus crisis escalated in New York, the court system and institutions across society scaled back or shut down their operations as a way to blunt the spread of COVID-19. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo reported Monday that key COVID-19 figures remain low overall in New York compared to the virus's peak in the state. Those key figures include the number of deaths from the coronavirus and the percentage of positive tests.  

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