Jury Trials Resume At Tulsa County Courthouse After Being Suspended Due To COVID-19

After a long delay, jury duty will resume at the Tulsa County Courthouse on Monday.

Jury trials were suspended late last year because of rising COVID-19 cases.

Court Administer, Vicki Cox said they're having to do things a lot differently because of the virus. 

"It's not like in the old days when you would bring in 300 people in there, and you didn't really care about it."

Cox said the court typically did jury trials two to three weeks out of the month, but now trials will be scheduled every week, but without the normal amount of folks coming in as before.

"We don't want to have more people here that we can maintain distance with."

About 500 people are summoned for jury duty Monday. They'll need to wear a mask, and everyone will have their temperatures checked.

Once inside, they'll be seated in specific areas to maintain social distancing.

Cox said the goal is to get people assigned to a courtroom and out of the waiting area within 45 minutes to an hour, and then another group of potential jurors will arrive.

"If they are not going to a trial right away, they are put on-call and then they will come back to the courthouse when the trial they get assigned to begins."

Once a trial begins, Cox said the 12 jurors will be seated six feet apart from each other, whether seated on a bench or on chairs. Cox said COVID-19 has made their operations a little more complicated.

"We are just trying to do our part and make sure we can keep the wheels of justice turning and keep everyone as safe as possible."

Cox said they are expecting no more delays at this point, but they will continue to watch the COVID-19 numbers in the state and county.