EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — Many aspects of life have returned to pre-pandemic ways, but an important part of El Paso's justice system might not.
El Paso County judges told KFOX14 they are working to make virtual jury duty and virtual trials permanent options.
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Texas has been leading the way for the rest of the country in this effort; in fact, the nation's first virtual contested bench trial using Zoom was conducted by Judge Emily Miskel on March 25, 2020, in a Collin County, Texas courtroom.
Five months later, Travis County Justice Court Judge Nicholas Chu conducted the first fully virtual criminal jury trial in the nation.
With several jury trials suspended in 2020 and with caseloads accumulating, El Paso Criminal District Court 1 Judge Diane Navarrete told KFOX14 the Council of Judges began looking into possible solutions.
Like everyone else, we thought, we're going to take two weeks off and then come back and when that didn't happen, we quickly realized we had to do something, we had people in custody, we had cases pending in the courts," said Navarrete.
Navarrete said the adjustment was not easy for some attorneys who did not have experience with filing paperwork electronically.
"I'll tell you prior to the pandemic we had attorneys that said, we're never going to file electronically, we're never going to do Zoom, and we did it because we had to and I think that's one of the pluses of a pandemic," she added.
The switch to online trials required access to Zoom, YouTube, and Dropbox.
Aside from preventing a backlog of cases, Judge Navarrete said she quickly noticed another benefit of virtual jury duty and online trials.
In my court, personally I had more people show up to court on Zoom because there's a lot of people that don't live within the city, but they live within the county and trying to get a bus to get downtown from Fabens or Clint is a problem," said Navarrete. "Zoom provided an alternative way for them to show up to court and comply.
Judge Navarrete said they followed the model used by other counties in Texas when implementing virtual proceedings in El Paso, and since they are still working out some kinks, a mock trial was held in November, which she took part in acting as a juror.
"A couple days before, we received e-mails giving us instructions on how to log on, giving us instructions. They gave us the iPads and provided us with a video on how to use the iPads."
Navarrete said two bailiffs signed onto the Zoom meeting to make sure everyone's eyes were on their screen paying attention.
The jury was asked 'yes' or 'no' questions which could be answered using the features on Zoom.
"They gave us access to the Dropbox so we could make sure we had access to the exhibits that had been pre-put into the Dropbox and we started Monday morning; opening statements, testimony from witnesses, the introduction of exhibits, then finally jury charge, closing arguments and we started deliberation," Navarrete explained.
The judge pointed out that while this new system has worked for civil cases, that may not be the case for criminal cases.
"The only way we'd be able to do it in a criminal case is if both parties consented," said Navarrete. "So far, this idea of virtual jury trials is not very popular with criminal defense attorneys so we have not had a criminal trial, but we've successfully had civil jury trials."
When asked about the implementation of virtual trials in El Paso, District Attorney Yvonne Rosales said most of the judges are not anxious to get back into the courtroom until everybody feels safe to do so.
There is a lot of legal controversy as to whether you're denying a defendant's right to confrontation of witnesses if masks are being utilized in the courtrooms," said Rosales. "Some defense attorneys feel that even the plexiglass that is separating attorneys and witnesses is preventing them, or would prevent them from confrontation and cross-examination of witnesses. So, there are a lot of legal arguments both ways. We definitely want to push through as many cases as we possibly can in a safe manner.
Rosales said she believes this will likely be easier to do with misdemeanor cases, but not murder or capital murder cases.
If you are scheduled for jury duty in El Paso, you will want to take a close look at your summons because some of them are for remote proceedings. Those who get in-person summons will have to adhere to COVID-19 safety protocols, such as social distancing.
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