LI courts prepare for reopening with plan for retrofitting, new procedures
Operations from seven courthouses have been consolidated at the Nassau County Court House during the coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Newsday/Bridget Murphy
A proliferation of face masks, hand sanitizer dispensers and acrylic barriers are some of the things Long Islanders can expect to see in local courthouses when the facilities reopen — a process that begins upstate next week as New York starts to emerge from coronavirus-related closures.
People entering upstate courthouses who aren't employees also will undergo COVID-19 screening, which could include answering health questions or temperature checks, according to state officials.
The plan to reopen courts in Nassau, Suffolk and New York City still is being formulated, but the safety protocols the state is adopting as judges and staff return to courthouses in 30 upstate counties are likely to be used here, courts spokesman Lucian Chalfen said Thursday.
Those protocols include marking courtrooms and other areas in the buildings to help people maintain social distancing standards. Officials also will supply masks to anyone who comes to court without one.
New York's Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said in a video message earlier this week that as virtual court operations continue to expand, the plan to restart in-person court operations would likely track the governor's overall plan of rolling out regional reopenings.
While Long Island court proceedings will remain virtual for now, court administrators have started providing news media with remote access to proceedings on a case-by-case basis if arranged in advance — which Chalfen confirmed was a step also aimed at improving the transparency of the system.
In Nassau, court officials also have started using the District Court building in Hempstead for the first time since mid-March, county Administrative Judge Norman St. George said Thursday.
The scaled-down physical operations of Nassau's half-dozen other courthouses remain consolidated in the County Court building in Mineola, where clerks organize the virtual proceedings that play on screens as other parties participate remotely.
St. George said the District Court reopened this week to give staff space to host an influx of virtual preliminary hearings, or felony exams, that are expected following a recent executive order from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
It allows such hearings to go forward by video conference so a judge can evaluate evidence connected to serious charges against an unindicted, jailed defendant and potentially pave the way for that person's release.
About 110 people who qualify for a felony exam are jailed in Nassau now, and court officials expect about 60 of them to seek such hearings in the next few weeks, St. George said.
By Cuomo's executive order, the speedy trial rights of criminal defendants and rules related to prosecutors handing over discovery — or evidence — remain suspended. Grand jury proceedings also have been halted.
But DiFiore's administration announced Thursday that coronavirus-related estate matters would be designated essential proceedings and could go forward following thousands of COVID-19 deaths statewide.
Starting next week, uncontested estate cases involving people who died from the virus can be filed in the state's Surrogate's Courts, officials said.
Also next week, St. George said, the proposed plan for retrofitting Nassau's courts ahead of eventual reopening will be submitted before physical preparations will start.
