Mass. courts still digging out from backlog of cases post-COVID-19 pandemic
Mass. courts still digging out from backlog of cases post-COVID-19 pandemic
Updated: 7:37 PM EDT Oct 18, 2022
♪ ED: THE PDEMIC PUT JUSTICE ON HOLD FOR MANY IN MASSACHUSETTS AS TRIALS GROUND TO A HALT FOR MONTHS OR EVEN LONGER. MARIA: 5 INVESTIGATES’ MIKE BEAUDET DISCOVERED THE STATE IS STILL DIGGING OUT FROM THE BACKLOG, MORE THAN TWO YEARS LATER. >> THINK ABOUT THIS, THERE WERE NO CRIMINAL JURY TRIALS IN MASSACHUSETTS FOR MORE THAN A YEAR IN MARCH 2020, BUT THE TRIAL COURT IS MAKING PROGRESS AND THERE IS A SILVER LINING. THE PANDEMIC IS IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR, WE HOPE, BUT ITS IMPACT LINGERS. >> THE PANDEMIC HAD A DEVASTATING EFFECT ON THE FREEDOM OF MANY. >> CHILD COURT CHIEF JUSTICE SAT DOWN WITH FIVE INVESTIGATES TO TALK ABOUT THE BACKLOG OF CASES. >> MARCH 2020 UNTIL FIRST ON THE CIVIL SIDE, JANUARY 2021, AND ON THE CRIMINAL SIDE, UNTIL MAY 2021. >> THE RESULT, THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE GROUND TO A HALT. >> IF YOU ARE SOME WAS CHARGED WITH A CRIME AND BEING HELD BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO POST BAIL, YOU ARE NOT HAVING A TRIAL DATE. >> HOW BIG WAS THAT BACKLOG? >> I CAN’T GIVE YOU A PRECISE NUMBER, BUT WE ARE DEALING WITH TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CASES. >> BEFORE THE NUMBERS INCREASE — >> MORE THAN TWO AND A HALF YEARS AFTER THE GOVERNOR DECLARED A COVID-19 EMERGENCY, COURTS ARE BUZZING WITH ACTIVITY, BUT IT HAS NOT BEEN EASY GETTING HERE. REMEMBER WHEN SOCIALLY DISTANCE TRIALS WERE HELD AT LUMBAR DOSE? — LOMBARDO’S. AND THEY INSTALLED MILES OF PLEXI GLASS. >> EVERY COURTROOM, EVERY STAND, EVERY BENCH, EVERY COUNTER. >> THEN THERE ARE THE CHANGES THAT ARE NOT GOING AWAY, THE SILVER LINING. >> THEY DISTRIBUTED 4000 LAPTOPS. >> WHILE THE TRIALS NEED TO BE HELD IN PERSON, VIRTUAL HEARINGS ARE HERE TO STAY. >> IT IS UTILIZING OUR COURT TIME, OUR JUDICIAL TIME MORE EFFICIENTLY. >> THERE HAVE BEEN PICKUPS ALONG THE WAY, LIKE LAST DECEMBER WHEN COVID CASES SPIKED, SHUTTING DOWN TRIALS AGAIN FOR TWO MONTHS , AND SOME TRIALS HAVE BEEN INTERRUPTED WHEN SOMEBODY INVOLVED BECOMES INFECTED WITH COVID. >> IT SHOWS YOU THE IMPACT FROM COVID THAT WE DROPPD FROM 21,002 ONLY BEING ABLE TO RESOLVE 3600. >> THIS CHART ILLUSTRATES HOW IT IMPACTED SMALL CASES. >> YOU SEE THE EFFECT WE HAVE HAD GOING THROUGH COVID AND POST-COVID. >> YOU CAN SEE THE SIMILAR STORY WITH CRIMINAL CASES. HOW LONG DO YOU THINK IT WILL TAKE TO GET THROUGH THE BACKLOG? >> I THINK WE ARE DEALING WITH ANOTHER 12 MONTHS, AND I SAY THAT, MIKE, BECAUSE YOU CAN ONLY TRY ONE CASE AT A TIME. >> DESPITE THE CHALLENGES, THE CHIEF JUSTICE IS HOPEFUL. >> WE KNOW THE MOTTO, JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED. COVID DELAYED, BUT IT HAS NOT DENIED JUSTICE. >> THE COURT HAS TOLD TRIAL COURT DEPARTMENTS TO PRIORITIZE CRIMINAL CASES, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHERE A DEFENDANT IS IN CUSTO
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Mass. courts still digging out from backlog of cases post-COVID-19 pandemic
Updated: 7:37 PM EDT Oct 18, 2022
The pandemic put justice on hold for many in Massachusetts as trials ground to a halt for months or even longer.
The pandemic put justice on hold for many in Massachusetts as trials ground to a halt for months or even longer.
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