By Patrick Mcardle
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The Vermont Supreme Court on Monday declared a judicial emergency, postponing almost all court hearings with some exceptions for cases such as those where someone is being held in custody, emergency hearings regarding child custody and cases directly related to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
State’s attorneys in Rutland and Washington counties have also established their own rules to protect the health and safety of staff.
On Tuesday, Attorney General T.J. Donovan announced employees of the office are working remotely until at least April 6. The news release from Donovan’s office pointed out that working from home would not only promote public health but allow staff who are parents to be at home with their children while Vermont schools are closed.
The release stated Donovan expects no disruption of service.
The judicial emergency, which was declared in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus, is scheduled to last until April 15.
All hearings for the Judicial Bureau, which handles civil violations and not criminal matters, are postponed.
For hearings that are exceptions to the postponement, which also include competency hearings that involved the possibility of involuntary hospitalization or medication, “Do Not Resuscitate” petitions and bail review for defendants in custody, the attorneys and parties involved can appear by phone with no need for permission or by video if approved by a judge.
Before the judicial emergency was declared, Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy had sent out a memo to law-enforcement officers setting her own rules in response to the pandemic.
Police were told not to cite any defendants to appear in court for misdemeanors, except domestic assault and driving under the influence, until June 1. For felony charges, Kennedy has asked police to consider whether a defendant needs to be held in jail while waiting for arraignment, known as a “lodging,” on nonviolent felonies.
“We need to be judicious. If it doesn’t need to be a lodging, it doesn’t need to be a lodging. Violent felonies, obviously, probably will need to be a lodging,” Kennedy said.
She added that she hopes video systems can be used instead of in-court appearances in those cases.
The Rutland County state’s attorney office is working with a “skeleton crew,” Kennedy said, so staff can maintain a six-foot distance from each other. People who work in the office, including prosecutors, are working from home.
The office is closed to the public, although those needing to speak with the office can call or send email to make arrangements to get what they need.
Rory Thibault, the state’s attorney in Washington County, started making similar arrangements last week.
Thibault said he wanted to be proactive about making sure the staff in his office did not become “unwitting vectors for the virus.”
“I say that because I’m fortunate where most everybody on my team themselves are really healthy and in good shape, but that said, many of us have children at home, family or close relatives who are immuno-compromised, and certainly in court, we deal with any number of people who may be sick themselves or alternatively may be especially susceptible,” he said.
Last week, Thibault’s office reviewed all of the cases through March for which in-court appearances could be eliminated or postponed.
“The goal there being to just minimize the number of times where we would have multiple people sitting around the courtrooms or the waiting areas, which in our courthouse are fairly confined and not very well ventilated,” he said.
Thibault said he wanted to implement policies that would prevent people from having to leave their homes for a court appearance but said victims and defendants who want their cases resolved should understand things are being advanced behind the scenes by telephone, email or video.
Thibault said Washington County has a video system in the courthouse that can be used for making court appearances remotely.
Under the emergency order, no one but employees may enter a state courthouse until March 30, unless it’s for one of the hearings that are exceptions under the order. Even then, they must pass screening questions related to their risk of having been exposed to the novel coronavirus.
The full emergency order is online at www.vermontjudiciary.org/COVID19.
During the next few weeks, the best way to contact the attorney general’s office is to call 828-3171 or email [email protected].
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