After more than five months with its busy list of motions, hearings and trials almost entirely suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philadelphia court system held its first preliminary hearing Monday. Little more than a week before that, the court system also handled its first bench trial.

Although access to Pennsylvania's largest court system remains very limited and the district's safety protocols remain in flux, the proceedings—held both virtually and in person—are the first signs that the freeze imposed on the First Judicial District in March is beginning to thaw.

On July 16, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Mia Perez handled the first bench trial since the FJD, along with every other court in the state, shut down in an effort to help stem the spread of the coronavirus. The trial was done in-person with a range of safety protocols in place and consent from all sides.

According to Perez, the procedures are still in flux and court staff has been seeking feedback from participants, but so far the in-person proceedings are helping inform the court system about how it could more broadly begin opening up in the coming months.

"The plan has been to try to get us up and moving and trying to figure out a way to do trials and motions safely for the public, as well as the staff, the sheriffs, et cetera," Perez said. "It has taken a lot of thought from various stakeholders, including the District Attorney's Office, the Sheriff's Department, courtroom operations, courtroom staffing, as well as judges and attorneys. It's quite a process."

In total, Perez's courtroom, which is 701 at the Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice, has handled one full bench trial that lasted about three hours, as well as two motions in person.

The preliminary hearings that started taking place this week were done using Zoom video conferencing technology. On Monday, the court handled three cases—including two full hearings—and according to Municipal Court President Judge Patrick Dugan, 19 are scheduled to take place over the next week. The court so far has a few hundred additional cases in the pipeline, he said.

"It was a big day for Municipal Court," Dugan said. "We're excited that we're going to get [preliminary hearings] going now."

So far, none of the cases handled at the Common Pleas level involved cases where the defendant was in custody, but the preliminary hearings in Municipal Court have focused on cases where the defendants are currently in jail. However, in both courts, the proceedings have involved cases where the only witness is a police officer.

Remote Preliminary Hearings

Soon after the Municipal Court's first remote preliminary hearing began at around 9 a.m. Monday, Judge Joffie Pittman held a colloquy with the defendant regarding whether he consented to having the hearing held through the videoconferencing app Zoom.

As the proceedings got underway, the judge also notified the defendant, who was in custody, about the location of the attorneys and witness. The defendant and the defense attorney, Emma Reynolds of the Philadelphia Defender Association, were also in contact with cellphones, and at one point, they were muted and taken off screen to discuss an issue.

The cases proceeded much like any other preliminary hearing, except when the testifying police officers were asked to identify the defendant, instead of pointing, they described the defendant's clothes and background.

The hearing was not the first handled in Municipal Court in recent months. Municipal Court judges have already been handling certain motions in Room 403 of the CJC, including guilty pleas, early bail review and hearing waivers. But nothing so far has risen to the level of a full preliminary hearing.

Dugan said the Municipal Court has been working with the court's criminal justice partners, including the Defenders Association of Philadelphia, the private defense bar and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office to develop protocols and get the cases ready for the preliminary hearing stage. Prosecutors and defense attorneys, he said, have already identified more than 500 hundred cases that are ready to hit the preliminary hearing phase.

With the court generally having anywhere from 30 to 50 preliminary hearings listed, the number of cases that likely would come before the court had the judicial system not ground to a halt would be around 6,200.

The biggest hurdle in terms of tackling the outstanding cases, according to Dugan, has been the technology, which he said is antiquated, and will likely limit some of the efforts to fully scale up the operation into the virtual world. But, Dugan said, judges and staff are eager to keep the process moving.

"I have 30 judges in Municipal Court—27 commissioned and three senior judges—all chomping at the bit to come in and work and take care of these cases," Dugan said.

In-Person Precautions

In an age where social distancing is paramount, figuring out a way to safely hold jury trials has been a major challenge for courtrooms across the country. Bench trials, however, have increasingly becoming an option not only for courts to begin addressing their backlogs, but also as a way for courthouses to begin small-scale implementation of new safety protocols.

In Perez's courtroom, numerous safety measures have been put in place with the goal of reducing the risks of COVID-19, and ensuring people feel safe in the courtroom.

Walking in, according to Perez, is like walking into a Trader Joe's where the first person you encounter sprays your hands with hand sanitizer.

"Whether you're law enforcement or not, when you walk into the room, the first person you come across [sprays your hands]," Perez said.

According to Perez, masks are mandatory at all times for everyone in the building, including judges, witnesses, members of the public and police. Markers throughout the courtroom also remind people about proper social distancing, and the witness chair and microphones are also disinfected between each witness, she said.

The court has also ramped up efforts to ensure matters that can be handled virtually are done so, and the court has also taken steps to ensure attorneys are quickly informed when matters resolve so they don't come to the court unless they absolutely need to. Trials and motions are also handled one at a time, Perez said, always being scheduled only at either 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Also, instead of using the small anterooms, witnesses use the hallways, where additional court staff are also present to help ensure social distancing guidelines are followed, according to Perez. Attorneys are also being asked to more closely look at their exhibit lists to see what can be stipulated to so it can be viewed on screens in an effort to cut down on people handling documents.

Although defense attorneys are being asked to socially distance themselves from their clients while at the defense table, Perez said if they need to talk in private, the court has a protocol for taking a break and allowing them to do so in a private room.

According to Perez, she has been giving everyone who enters her courtroom evaluation forms to gauge their comfort levels. So far, she said, the courtroom has gotten high marks.

"It's about minimizing the risks," Perez said. "Want to make it the best that we can make it. I want the feedback. I want the negative feedback to make people feel and be safe,"

Perez, however, noted that what happens in her courtroom is simply the way her courtroom is being run, and the procedures she has in place are not per se rules that have been handed down on a district-wide basis.

Except, perhaps, for the face covering rule, which  covers the whole building and stems from Gov. Tom Wolf's mandate that masks be worn in all public buildings, including courthouses.

"Masks are a flash point for some," Perez said. "We have to be aware of that and handle it with as much respect and dignity as possible."