Georgia’s top judge has cleared the way for jury trials in the state to resume immediately as long as adequate precautions against the spread of the coronavirus are in place.
An order signed Tuesday by Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton extends the statewide judicial emergency resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. But it allows courts to call new jurors and hold jury trials “if that can be done safely and in accordance with a final jury trial plan developed in collaboration with the local committee and incorporated into the court’s written operating guidelines for in-person proceedings.”
Melton suspended jury trials when he first declared a statewide judicial emergency nearly a year ago, on March 14, 2020. He lifted that suspension in October but reinstated it Dec. 23 because of a surge in coronavirus cases.
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