US District Courts in Hawai‘i Suspend Jury Trials

US District Courts in Hawai‘i won’t hold jury trials until at least mid-October due to the surge of COVID-19 currently taking place across the state.

The closure of the courts isn’t total, as in-person hearings will still be scheduled on Mondays and Thursdays. Jury trials, however, won’t return before Oct. 13, at the earliest. The decision was announced via press release on Monday, Aug. 24.

Judges and Districts will make individual determinations for pending civil cases, which may take place in person, over distance via telephone or video chat, or simply removed from the calendar altogether.

Entry to the courts will be limited to those not subject to quarantine and those who are not presenting with possible coronavirus-related symptoms.

The previous suspension of court proceedings in different parts of the country have prompted attorneys for some defendants to call for their releases, saying the postponements violate their clients’ rights to speedy trials.