CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The first jury trial in Nueces County since the coronavirus pandemic began Wednesday. A group of 70 folks showed up to the courthouse to see who would sit on the first jury trial in over a year.
There was a line of folks stretching from the outside of the Nueces County courthouse all the way to the inside of the central jury room.
"We are elated that jury trials are starting once again and we have prepared vigorously for this event today," Judge Sandra Watts with the 117th District Court said. "We have followed all of the protocols from the Supreme Court of Texas.”
All of the prospective jurors were socially distanced from the time they stood in line to when they entered the central jury room. There were 85 chairs spread out in the huge facility. Pre-pandemic, up to 400 people could be crammed as tight as sardines inside there.
Everyone wore a mask and were also given face shields. Prosecutors and defense attorneys, as well as the judge, sat behind a divided plexiglass seating, though they were allowed to freely move about the room as they questioned the prospective jurors.
The local Administrative Judge Inna Klein tells 3News that a lot of thought went into setting up the district courtrooms and the central jury room. It's a place that she will be back inside of next Wednesday when she is set to oversee jury selection for the second jury trial.
"We’ve been getting ready for this for the past 14 months," Klein said. "We’re just hoping that the jurors are ready to and I look forward to next week.”
The health department, along with the County Risk Management Team, were also part of the group who worked to be able to get jury trials back up and running once again here in Nueces County.
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
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