Jury Trials to Resume Again!
The world has been battling the COVID-19 pandemic for a year now. All sectors of life, from businesses to schools, to courts, to places of worship, have socially-distanced and shifted to technology to carry out their work.
A year ago, on March 14, 2020, Chief Justice Melton of the Supreme Court of Georgia declared a Statewide Judicial Emergency in the State of Georgia due to the “transmission of Coronavirus/COVID-19 throughout the State and the potential infection of those who work in or are required to appear in our courts.”[i] The first order suspended all jury trials. Today, on March 9, 2021, almost one year after the first order, Chief Justice Melton has entered the 12th order extending the judicial emergency. This order authorizes jury trials to begin again.[ii]