NUECES COUNTY, Texas — After meeting with City-County Health District officials Tuesday, Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales made the decision to delay the return of jury trials at district courts in the Nueces County Courthouse.
"The health department is not recommending to restart for 60 to 90 days," 214th District Court Judge Inna Klein said.
"The judges have been working to get ready for that day," 117th District Court Judge Sandra Watts said. "We thought the day was going to be Feb. 10. The health department and Judge Canales have made a determination that based on medical conditions that's too soon."
For months, judges and their staff have been working to ready their courtrooms in time for a Feb. 10 start of in-person jury trials.
"We have been working every day trying to improve the safety of everybody who comes into this courthouse," Klein said.
"The judges of Nueces County literally started meeting in September and we adopted our jury resumption plan on Dec. 14," Watts said.
There are currently 18 pending capital murder cases in Nueces County. All of the defendants in these cases are in the Nueces County Jail.
"Our number one inmate has been in 1,566 days as of the 29th of January," Watts said.
No one knows the urgency of getting these cases into the courts for trial more than Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez.
"When you have the serious cases such as murder or sexual assault of children, all those sorts of cases where somebody is actually sitting in jail, those are the ones that we need to try and we need to try them quick because they're sitting in jail, but still not risking the community," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said his office continues to try most other cases via Zoom when possible, leaving the more serious ones for jury trial.
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
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