HANCOCK COUNTY — When people are arrested, they have a right to appear before a judge within a certain amount of time. While that protocol won’t change due to the coronavirus, other fundamental county courthouse operating procedures will.
There will also be changes in arrest procedures throughout the county as officials try to reduce the spread of the pandemic.
The county’s judges, Scott Sirk of Circuit Court; Marie Castetter of Superior Court 1; and Dan Marshall of Superior Court 2, have petitioned the Indiana Supreme Court for emergency relief — permission to make changes in daily courtroom operations.
In short, the county courts will be postponing until further notice all jury trials and keeping non-essential employees and people out of the courts who don’t have to appear.
“We put together a petition similar to what some of the other county courts have already enacted and have been approved,” Judge Marie Castetter said.
The county courts will in essence be shutting down except for essential hearings required to comply with defendants’ constitutional rights. The judges have tried to find a balance between meeting legal deadlines and rules without compromising the health and safety of employees and the community.
“We are responsible for the safety of our employees and the public who come into our courthouse, and we want to make sure no one gets sick,” Castetter said.
Marshall was among several government officials who spoke about the virus outbreak during a county commissioners meeting on Tuesday, March 17. He said he was in favor of sending home as many government employees as possible and felt the county had two choices: take decisive action or wait until it’s perhaps too late.
“If you act boldly and take affirmative steps to try and address this and mitigate the spread, people are going to say, ‘Well, that wasn’t necessary.’ But that’s false. Or you can not act boldly, and we could potentially have a serious problem,” Marshall said. “I would just ask you to act boldly. Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean it’s not necessary.”
According to the petition submitted to the Indiana Supreme Court, county officials have asked for discretion on criminal pretrial conferences and non-essential hearings that will not result in the resolution of case; have the option to allow counsel to appear remotely via phone; have defendants appear remotely from jail, except for contested sentencing hearings; postpone trials for non-incarcerated individuals; and continue all jury trials to no later than May 4.
On the civil front, judges plan to continue or postpone all jury trials to no later than May 4; continue all bench trials; continue all non-essential matters; use phone calls when possible to conduct hearings; allow litigants and attorneys to appear remotely; and utilize video systems in juvenile cases for all fact-finding and termination hearings in Child In Need of Services cases.
The courts will also have the right to limit spectators to the extent necessary to provide adequate “social distancing,” and no one will be allowed into the courts who appears visibly ill.
All courts are supposed to remain open unless there are dire circumstances, and Castetter noted the pandemic is indeed testing those limits.
“Most of our hearings have already been vacated,” Castetter said. “We are living in unprecedented times.”
A review of the recent county jury pool showed 30 percent of the people were over the age of 60, indicating the need to suspend all jury trials since that age group is considered to be at high risk for catching the virus.
While most matters in the county courts will slow down, Sirk said Drug Court, a support program for people in the criminal justice system who are dealing with substance abuse issues, will continue to meet as scheduled on Fridays.
As for the county probation department, officers will not be holding face-to-face meetings, said Joshua Sipes, chief probation officer.
“Our office will be open, but we’ll look at workload measures and non-essential staff and we’ll definitely look into remote operations,” Sipes said.
They’re updating offender contact information, making sure they have email and phone information instructing offenders they may be using these methods to contact them and letting them know they need to be responsive.
“Most of the services and things they (offenders) take part of in the county will be closed, so those things will not be held against them, the conditions of their probation,” Sipes said.
The probation department will only be doing drug testing when ordered, Sipes noted. The staff of 25, including Sipes, will dwindle down to one officer working in the office per the three different divisions, he said. The rest will work remotely.
Court officials plan to file a status update no later than Friday, April 17 to inform the Indiana Supreme Court if there is an ongoing need for emergency relief, the petition said.
In the meantime, the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the county jail, is asking other law enforcement agencies to examine their arrest procedures.
While the jail is not closing its doors to new inmates, officials asked other agencies to use “sound judgment” in determining whether a person needs to be booked into the jail, public information officer Robert Harris said.
“If the option to summons offenders into court versus incarceration is available, please use the summons route, as this will be more beneficial in decreasing potential exposure,” Harris said in a news release issued on Wednesday, March 18. Some police departments had already indicated they were using more discretion in who to bring to the jail.
With minor exceptions, the jail will not be accept prisoners arrested on out-of-county warrants or out-of-state warrants; those wanted on warrants for non-violent crimes; and those wanted for probation violations, failure-to-appear warrants and writs of body attachments.
They’re also asking agencies to consider summonses for non-victim misdemeanors; property crimes misdemeanors and narcotic possession arrests.
