Colorado’s backlog of COVID-delayed jury trials is shrinking, but lingers

The jury trial that lawyer Jonathan Booker began final week was a very long time coming.

His consumer, charged in 2019, waited three years for the misdemeanor case to go to trial in Denver due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed 1000’s of felony instances throughout the state as courts at first shut down jury trials utterly, then slowly re-started them amid issues in regards to the unfold of the coronavirus.

The pandemic-induced delays created an enormous backlog of instances awaiting jury trials in 2021, and whereas courtroom operations have since largely returned to regular, a historically-high backlog stays and a few jurisdictions are nonetheless strained by the logjam, attorneys instructed The Denver Put up.

“We’re digging out, however we nonetheless have a methods to go,” mentioned Brian Mason, district lawyer for the seventeenth Judicial District, which covers Adams and Broomfield counties.

His jurisdiction has seen the backlog of felony instances set for jury trials within the subsequent six months drop from greater than 700 within the spring of final 12 months to only over 500 this month, in keeping with knowledge the workplace supplied. However pre-pandemic, within the spring of 2019, that quantity was nearer to 250, Mason mentioned.

“One of many fundamental causes we’ve made progress is we’re again in particular person and the trial courtrooms are up and working, and we haven’t needed to have the identical restrictions on the variety of jurors coming in,” he mentioned, including that with extra instances going to trial, defendants are additionally extra prone to settle for plea offers, which has chipped away on the backlog as nicely.

Statewide, the variety of instances awaiting jury trials dropped from about 14,600 in 2021 to 11,200 earlier this month, mentioned Rob McCallum, a spokesman for the Colorado Judicial Division. He famous that about 10,200 of these trials are scheduled to occur in 2022, although some shall be delayed or finish in plea agreements as an alternative.

In 2020, Colorado felony instances on common lasted 184 days from the arrest and submitting of fees to the disposition of the case, in keeping with knowledge supplied by the Colorado Judicial Division, though that quantity solely contains instances which were closed. That’s longer than different latest years: in 2018, felony instances lasted a mean 148 days, and in 2021, about 121 days.

Throughout the state, 93% of felony instances filed in 2018 have been closed, whereas solely 80% of instances filed in 2020 and 60% of instances filed in 2021 have been closed, in keeping with the info.

Usually, the state conducts solely about 2,700 jury trials yearly. The overwhelming majority of instances are resolved by way of responsible pleas.

Earlier within the pandemic, some prosecutors tried to clear instances and jails by providing plea offers they may not have provided earlier than the worldwide well being disaster. These types of “sweetheart offers” are not taking place, mentioned Denver protection lawyer Kimberly Diego.

“That ship has sailed,” she mentioned. “It’s just about again to regular, however the dockets are very crowded and trial dockets are significantly wild. They’re attempting to maneuver ahead as greatest they’ll, but it surely’s a tricky proposition.”

However instances are transferring ahead once more, attorneys mentioned. The backlog is not rising. Booker doesn’t count on any of his different shoppers to face wholesale COVID-related delays like the person who waited three years for his misdemeanor trial, he mentioned.

“He’s the final one,” Booker mentioned.

Within the 18th Judicial District, which covers Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties, the trial backlog is turning into extra manageable, mentioned District Legal professional John Kellner.

“Day-to-day operations have largely bounced again,” he mentioned, noting that the district opened an additional courtroom in Douglas County and his workplace boosted staffing to assist work by way of the amassed instances.

In a traditional 12 months, the workplace sometimes sees an extra of 100 to 200 felony instances when evaluating newly-filed instances with resolved instances, he mentioned. In 2020, that quantity jumped to greater than 1,000, he mentioned. In 2021, it was nearer to 250, and thus far in 2022 it’s been nearer to 200, he mentioned.

A few of the state’s less-busy courts already have cleared their COVID-19 backlogs.

“I might say we don’t have a backlog resulting from COVID on this district,” mentioned Fifth Judicial District Legal professional Heidi McCollum, the highest prosecutor in Eagle, Summit, Lake and Clear Creek counties. “Generally, we do throughout the district have fairly just a few trials which are at present set, however I can’t attribute nearly all of these to COVID.”

On the state public defender’s workplace, caseloads for particular person protection attorneys jumped by 15% through the three fiscal years of the pandemic, whereas they elevated by simply 6% within the previous three fiscal years, mentioned Maureen Cain, a spokeswoman for the workplace.

Over the past decade, public defenders have gone from carrying a mean of 72 instances at a time to 106 — a 47% enhance. However it’s troublesome to tie the upper caseloads on to COVID-related jury trial delays, Cain mentioned, noting that the workplace additionally has seen a marked enhance in critical felony fees within the instances it takes on.

“Anecdotally, we do understand it has had some affect,” she mentioned. “However there are different causes as nicely — the extra critical instances take longer.  Additionally, the rise in discovery — the rise of physique digital camera data and different social media data — is occurring in each case. This may create a necessity for extra time to characterize a consumer.”

In Boulder, District Legal professional Michael Dougherty gave closing arguments in a jury trial Thursday in a vehicular murder case. The dying occurred in 2020 and the trial was delayed by COVID-19. Dougherty mentioned he was struck by how the delay impacted everybody concerned within the case, from victims and witnesses to the defendant and the jury.

“We’re developing on two years on a case that may normally take a 12 months,” he mentioned. “…These delays have an actual affect.”