Vough: mask, temperature reading required to enter courthouse after June 1 reopening

WILKES-BARRE — While the Luzerne County Courthouse will reopen for business shortly after the county moves into the yellow phase of Pennsylvania’s phased reopening, President Judge Michael T. Vough said things will be different for some time.

The courthouse has sat mostly empty since mid-March, after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court announced a judicial emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Vough ordered the cancellation of a majority of criminal proceedings in light of the judicial emergency, moving most family and civil court hearings to teleconferencing.

But with Luzerne County slated to move into the yellow phase this Friday — and with the Supreme Court officially declaring on Wednesday that the judicial emergency would end on June 1 — it is time to begin to reopen, according to Vough.

Vough said the courthouse officially reopens on June 1, but criminal proceedings will not begin again until June 8. The judge said this was because the county initially expected to not move into the yellow phase until June 5, so criminal proceedings were scheduled to begin the next Monday.

Vough did caution those who need to come to the courthouse to plan accordingly.

“Sheriffs will be at the door, taking people’s temperatures. Masks will be required,” he said, adding that deputies would be asking individuals if they had come in contact with anyone who was confirmed to have COVID-19 recently.

Vough said that the way scheduling is done has been changed, with only five cases scheduled to go before each criminal judge per half hour. This is being done to limit the total number of people in the courthouse. Similarly, Vough said only five PFA cases would be heard each hour.

Vough said those scheduled to appear before a judge should try to get to the courthouse approximately 10 minutes before their scheduled time, to ensure they get through the screening procedure in a timely manner.

Any proceedings that involve an inmate at a jail or prison will be held through video, with two courtrooms in total being outfitted to handle video calls with prisons.

Vough said there will be no juries brought in until at least September, which gives the county time to figure out how to get a jury pool but also keep all jurors safe. Vough said there are currently ideas being floated about perhaps splitting juries into two smaller groups who would watch proceedings over a video feed, but the specifics have not been hashed out.

“We have a couple of weeks to figure that out,” Vough said, noting that the county would need to send jury summons out by mid-July for September proceedings.

Vough said that the number one priority is safety, encouraging defendants to speak with their attorney if they are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 before their appearance.

“We expect people to appear, but we don’t want them to appear if they’re ill,” he said.