By Katie Redefer

DOVER — The Delaware court system will transition back into Phase 3 of its reopening plan next week, allowing the Kent County Courthouse to resume in-person jury trials and proceedings June 1.

Under an order signed by Chief Justice Collin J. Seitz Jr., the courts will open to the public and resume in-person jury trials for the first time since the fall. The courts first moved into Phase 3 back in October, according to the courts’ Chief of Community Relations Sean O’Sullivan, only to convert back to Phase 2 shortly after due to a statewide spike in COVID-19 cases.

At a Tuesday morning press tour of the Kent County Courthouse, Mr. O’Sullivan emphasized the importance of safety in resuming in-house jury trials for the first time in months.

“With all these restrictions, we want to make clear that our priority is still the safety and security of anyone who works and visits our courthouses,” he said. “So that’s another reason we are happy to maintain this now. We feel it is the safest way to go.”

Under Phase 3, the courts can resume live jury trials and proceedings for both civil and criminal cases, although hearings and other court proceedings may still be conducted remotely through Zoom to ease capacity limitations in the buildings.

The courthouse capacity limits will be increased to 75%, as well as enforcing 3-foot social distancing and mask wearing for all visitors and courtroom staff, but will no longer enforce a 10-person limit to each room, as done in Phase Two. Nearly half the seats in the courtrooms are taped off to promote social distancing, others are separated by plexiglass barriers, and arrows are placed on the floors to direct foot traffic.

Jurors will be stationed between three different rooms during trials and screening processes to minimize the number of people in the courtroom at one time. Jurors will frequently be held in separate rooms from judges and defendants, allowing the jury to Zoom in to their respective courtrooms, as they now come equipped with large computer monitors and webcams.

The state courts have held 30,000 virtual proceedings since the pandemic began, with the exception of jury trials that could not be held virtually, Mr. O’Sullivan said. During the months when the courts could not hold in-person jury trials, thousands of criminal and civil court cases became backlogged statewide, he added.

“What we really couldn’t do during this time, because of COVID and because we did not want to have large numbers of people in the courthouse, particularly when we didn’t have a vaccine, is do jury trials,” he said. “As a result of that, we’ve seen substantial backups in our criminal cases where the jury trials are required, particularly in Superior Court and our Court of Common Pleas.”

Now, as the courts are preparing to resume in-person jury trials next week, thousands of cases that were canceled for months will begin, Mr. O’Sullivan said. They include 1,562 criminal cases and 157 civil cases within Superior Court throughout the state. The court will prioritize holding jury trials for all backlogged cases first, he added.

In the Court of Common Pleas, which typically handles misdemeanors, there are 15,600 criminal cases and 1,100 civil cases backlogged statewide. Mr. O’Sullivan added, however, that misdemeanors are often resolved more quickly, as not all cases ultimately end up going to trial due to plea agreements.

“It’s going to take us a while to dig out of this because, in addition to the fact that we need to clear out these backlogs and schedule them for trial, because of the social distancing right now, we don’t have as many courtrooms as we normally would,” he said.

The Kent County Courthouse will begin holding in-person jury trials for Superior Court cases first in June and is expected to move on to the Court of Common Pleas in August. Two recently retired judges, William L. Witham Jr. and Richard F. Stokes, will return to the courts for a brief period to help the state catch up.

All visitors will have their temperatures checked by thermal-imaging cameras at the security checkpoint before being permitted into the courthouse. However, the Kent County Courthouse will not require COVID-19 testing prior to arrival, nor will staff ask for proof of vaccination.

At this time, Mr. O’Sullivan said the state court system is focused on getting Phase 3 off the ground before considering what Phase 4 could look like.

“We’re just going to sort of work with what we’ve got right now,” he said. “We’ll probably see, before we actually drop Phase 3 entirely, my expectation is we’ll probably see changes to Phase 3.”

Mr. O’Sullivan said some of the new health and safety regulations resulting from COVID-19 could become a permanent part of the courts’ processes, like virtual hearings that can be held effectively over Zoom.

“We’ll see going forward what sort of advice we’re getting, what sort of guidance we’re getting and what sort of things make sense to keep in place as we go through this new age because we don’t know where this pandemic is going to go,” Mr. O’Sullivan said. “Some of these safety measures may make sense to either maintain or bring back in the future, but we will be working through that in the months to come.”

Clarification: All visitors and courtroom staff are required to wear a mask inside state courthouses, as well as keeping three feet of distance between others, not six feet. Jurors will be stationed in three separate rooms, but will mostly remain stagnant in those rooms to minimize contact, rather than ‘shifting’ between rooms.