Court shutdowns created little backlog
Fayette County District Attorney Rich Bower said the court system adjusted and moved forward in 2020, avoiding a large backlog in cases.
Herbert "Mitch" Mitchell
It’s no secret that the court system can sometimes move a bit slowly.
The pandemic didn’t help.
Closures during the early part of 2020 delayed cases ready for disposition in many areas, as court officials worked on ways to keep things moving.
District Attorney Rich Bower said the closures led to new efficiencies in Fayette County, like an increased use of video technology to conduct hearings.
It helped, he said, that the shutdown of the county’s court system was brief.
“We shut down for two months and then we started working again,” he said. “If you go to some of the larger counties, they just shut things down for months at a time.”
During those two months, Bower said the court looked for ways to get things up and running again in a way that would accommodate pandemic-related precautions.
Officials used the three biggest courtrooms to conduct proceedings, and shifted sentencing hearings to video when they could, Bower said. The county’s smallest courtroom became a meeting room for defense attorneys to speak with jailed clients by video.
“We had to work around all the social distancing issues, which we did, and we still kept up with the trials,” he said. “We got behind, but we didn’t really get that far behind.”
When courts were closed, the state suspended Rule 600, which requires criminal cases to be resolved within a specific time frame. Cases for incarcerated defendants must be resolved more quickly than those who are free on bond.
Herbert “Mitch” Mitchell III, owner of Mitch’s Bail Bonds, said he noticed area judges imposing lower bail amounts throughout the pandemic to help keep prison populations lower.
“They’ve been fashioning bail very appropriately, considering the circumstances, trying to be mindful of the prison population and for a good reason,” he said. “I’ve definitely noticed a lot less volume in my business, a lot less calls for bail this past year.”
Sara Rose, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Pittsburgh, said an adjustment downward in bail amounts has been a positive outcome of the pandemic.
“(Judges) understand the risks of COVID when you’re incarcerated and don’t want to expose people to those risks, but unfortunately that’s not as widespread as we’d like to see,” she said.
But with fewer behind bars, Mitchell wondered if a slew of court-issued warrants for no-showing defendants will follow.
“Are those people going to come back to court when the time comes? Do we know how to get ahold of these people? Are we going to have a warrant crisis on our hands?” he asked.
Mitchell, who has offices in Washington, Fayette and Allegheny counties, said he’s had more calls recently from people who’ve been on the receiving end of a bench warrant because they missed a rescheduled court date.
The Washington County Court of Common Pleas did a great job of keeping hearings flowing during the pandemic, said Jason Walsh, first assistant district attorney in the county.
However, trials remain suspended in the county until further order of the court, Walsh said.