Jury box

A group of public defender organizations in New York City objected Thursday to the planned return of in-person court proceedings for nonemergency matters, which was announced Tuesday by Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks.

In the letter, The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, the Bronx Defenders, the New York County Defender Services, the Queens Defenders and the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem asked Marks to abandon the plan "until our experts have the opportunity to work together to develop plans and protocols for returning to Court in a safe manner and even then, only upon consent for cases where there are no better and safer options."

The resumption of in-person appearances in some matters is part of the court system's Phase Three, which began in New York City on Wednesday. While health checks are now required upon entry at courthouses and safety equipment such as acrylic barriers and markings to guide physical distancing are being added, the defender organizations argued that remote proceedings have been held "very successfully until now."

The courts are also not under legal pressure to reopen, they argued, as the right to a speedy trial remains suspended statewide.

"There is no specific reason that these mostly routine appearances should result in the endangerment of the health and well-being of anyone required to appear, including the parties and counsel," they wrote. "We adamantly oppose this plan and request that any calendared cases be adjourned and that no additional in-person matters be calendared at this time."

In a statement, Office of Court Administration spokesman Lucian Chalfen said the courts are taking a conservative approach.

"Any suggestion that we would endanger the health and welfare of our employees, attorneys, litigants, defendants, or the public is absurd," he said. "We are taking the most conservative, measured and deliberative approach to every action as we move to resume in-person court appearances,"

New York County Defender Services executive director Stan Germán said the defender community wanted to make sure public health experts were involved in the reopening decisions. Their hired expert, CrowdRx, has completed some courthouse visits but was still gathering information when the announcement came this week, Germán said.

The expert is examining issues like the safety of courthouse HVAC systems and intends to produce a report and consult with OCA's externally hired epidemiologist, Germán said.

"Our position is simply, let the experts finish their tours, issue their reports, let's follow their advice and come back slowly, safely and informed by the public health officials," he said.

While individual attorneys are able to raise health concerns with judges one by one, Germán said the defenders are particularly concerned about the risk to clients.

"It is well established that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on low-income Black and Brown people, the same community that is also disproportionately arrested and represented in court cases in NYC and will bear the brunt of this new policy," the letter said, adding that clients typically rely on public transportation to reach courthouses.

The idea of a client appearing in court while their defender participates on a video monitor is "untenable," Germán said.

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