Criminal district judges in Harris County are back in their own courthouse for the first time since Hurricane Harvey left it inoperable three years ago.

The civil district judges who since 2017 have shared their courtrooms and chambers with the displaced criminal district judges also got their own spaces back in June, when the Harris County Criminal Justice Center reopened for its judges.

"Everybody is glad to have their own courtroom back. Everyone is glad to have their own chambers back," said 152nd Civil District Judge Robert Schaffer, the local administrative judge of Harris County. "It's that comfort level: You don't have to go check a schedule to see if you can go use the courtroom."

Keith Cartwright of Courtroom Concepts, a Houston litigation support company, said it's been a long time coming for civil and criminal judges to no longer share courtrooms.

"I think it will certainly speed up the case scheduling going forward for both sides, for criminal and civil," Cartwright said. "I think it's a plus for Harris County, and it's certainly a plus for all trial lawyers in Houston."

Under Water

Hurricane Harvey dropped 60 inches of rain on Houston, shattering national storm records and leaving the criminal courthouse essentially under water. The basement and first floor flooded, destroying critical building infrastructure like pumps, the electrical system and networking equipment, explained Rich Elwood, division manager of construction programs in Harris County's Public Infrastructure Corp.

Forced to move out, the criminal judges bunked with their civil counterparts in the Harris County Civil Courthouse. Criminal and civil judges shared chambers and courtrooms by coordinating their schedules so that one judge was booked to use a courtroom at a time.

152nd Civil District Court Judge Robert Schaffer

Sharing courtrooms after Harvey slowed down cases from moving on judges' dockets, Schaffer said. Now, they're dealing with a double-whammy of COVID-19 pausing jury trials since March.

With these obstacles, Harris County judges will benefit from the greater freedom to schedule matters in their own courtrooms.

"I don't think we can resolve the Harvey and COVID situation in a month or six months—It will take some time," Schaffer said.

He added that judges will really move their dockets faster once they can schedule jury trials again. The Texas Supreme Court has prohibited jury trials through Sept. 1, except for approved experimental trials.

"Cases settle on the courthouse steps," he said. "The jury drives what goes on in the courthouse, to a huge extent."

Construction Continues

Elwood, the construction manager, said that all of the carpet and paint in the criminal courthouse is new. They have moved as much as the building's infrastructure out of the basement and first floor, to higher floors, so they won't be impacted in future floods.

Recovering from Harvey took a long time because the storm was so destructive, he noted. So many government functions were impacted, and in the first year, the county focused on restarting them as best as possible. In the second year, discussions occurred about the best use of the criminal courthouse. In the third year, construction crews started the work. Elwood estimated they have about two more years left until completion.

Elwood explained that they are building five new elevators and reconfiguring the first floor lobby to allow for better flow of public traffic. The county also plans to construct a flood wall to lessen the flood risk from future storms. For particularly noisy jobs, construction crews will work on nights and weekends to lessen the impact on court business, he said.

Schaffer said the criminal judges needed to return to the building now, rather than waiting for all of the construction to finish. Being back in their own courtooms will allow the criminal judges to work more efficiently to reduce the jail population because they can hold more plea and bond reduction hearings, he explained. Even with the availability of remote hearings, the judges find it easier to work from the courthouse.

"It puts a little pressure on the building, because the lower floors are still under construction, and the elevators are still being built," Schaffer said. "But I think it's more efficient for judges to have access to their courtrooms, and do the work they need to do."