The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we all live in many ways. One of those ways is when criminal defendants have their day in court. Due to the danger of contracting the disease, before vaccinations, many trials were postponed. The delay affected jury trials throughout the United States. While the delays are understandable because of public safety concerns, the delays are still preventing defendants from having their day in court.

Worse, many defendants who can’t afford bail were and still are spending more time in jail than they should. Some defendants have already spent more time in jail than if they had been convicted of the crime they were charged with. The added danger of being stuck in jail is that defendants are more at risk for contracting COVID-19 in prison than if they are in their homes.

How the suspension of the right to a speedy trial is affecting criminal defendants

The Washington Post recently profiled the damage to defendants that the delay is causing. One Virginia man, Mr. Ford, sought to be released through his lawyer’s motion – after he’d been in jail a year awaiting trial – due to concerns about contracting the virus. The motion was denied for other reasons. His first trial was terminated because two jurors contracted the disease. The defendant then contracted the disease. He was ultimately convicted of a misdemeanor but acquitted of an accompanying felony charge. He served 22 months in jail even though the conviction for the misdemeanor only called for a 6-month sentence.

Even though the Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees speedy trials, that right was violated throughout the country due to trial delays caused by the pandemic. While many people who were charged with nonviolent crimes were released from jail pending their trial, defendants charged with violent crimes and who asserted their right to a jury trial (instead of having a judge hear the case without a jury) were confined to jail.

As one Washington, DC federal judge, in a dissenting opinion on a request not to suspend the right to a speedy trial, argued:

[The delays] could mean the difference between a job and no job, or absence from the birth of one’s child, or the risk of being physically assaulted or contracting a deadly virus [for defendants who] will eventually be acquitted, have their charges dropped, or plead to charges carrying sentences that are less than the time they have already served pretrial.

As the pandemic is easing due to the vaccines, courts that now have a backlog of jury trials are struggling to determine which trials should be held first. Like the defendant in the Washington Post example, it’s expected that many defendants will ultimately spend more time in jail than if they had pled guilty when first charged.

According to a University of Alabama Law School professor, jail populations that declined in the early stages of the pandemic “have crept back up — in part because fewer people are leaving.”

Jury trial delays are affecting criminal defendants throughout Tennessee

Tennessee is having a similar problem. We only started back up with criminal jury trials in March, and as Criminal Court Judge Jim Goodwin told WJHL News 11, the cases didn’t stop. “We can’t catch up. We won’t catch up,” said Judge Goodwin. “We just have a backlog of trials.”

So who gets first crack at a trial? Per Judge Goodwin, it should be the people who have been waiting in jail: “Obviously, jail cases have first priority because they’re incarcerated. Then you go from most serious to least serious. So you do jail cases, and then you do the most serious felonies. And that’s the order of preference.”

Whether those cases are heard in-person or via video conferencing may depend on the county. If virtual hearings can reduce the backlog, so be it. Justice delayed is justice denied, and the delays in our criminal justice system are at a breaking point.

Other factors affecting the delay in jury trials

All sides to the criminal trial process have played a role in the delay of jury trials during the pandemic.

• Prosecutors, per the Washington Post, counter the position of the advocates for releasing defendants. The prosecutors assert that it’s the charges that matters, not external factors. However, “a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District said prosecutors in their decision-making are ‘factoring in . . . the impact of the pandemic on all participants in the criminal justice system.’”
• Defense lawyers have also been a factor in the delays. Like most people, defense lawyers feared that trying cases during the height of the pandemic would endanger their own health and the jurors would be unable to focus properly because of their health concerns. It’s even worse for the State’s public defenders, who “normally have around 100 cases each – but their caseloads can reach up to 200 at a time now.”
• The state Supreme Courts, which are the ones that closed the courts, and the State itself for failing to address the technological needs of the justice system. Once virtual court became all but inevitable, the State should have equipped the courts with the tools they needed to keep moving forward. In many cases, that did not happen.

Is there any good news about the criminal justice system?

Some. There has been an increase in the number of people granted pre-trial release, which has alleviated some of the burden. It’s also sparked a really important conversation about bail reform, mandatory sentencing, and other elements of the justice system that often tie the hands of those of us who fight to protect the people moving through the system. We have a long way to go, but we’re on our way.

At Banks & Jones, our Knoxville criminal defense lawyers assert every possible legal and factual defense available to defendants. We also seek to have defendants released from jail pending trial for pandemic concerns and because defendants can better assert their defenses were then they are not imprisoned. If you’ve been arrested for any federal or any Tennessee criminal offense, fill out our contact form or call us at 865-546-2141 to schedule a free consultation. We represent defendants throughout the Knoxville area.