The Monroe County court system is still not holding jury trials but there are cases scheduled to start next month, and Chief Judge Mark Jones will be speaking with state court officials this week to discuss whether the 16th Judicial Circuit is ready to completely re-open next month.
The state has waived the requirement for a speedy trial, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Given that the number of new COVID-19 cases in the Florida Keys continues to rise, Judge Jones did not seem confident that court operations were ready to resume back to normal and jury trials could be held by next month. The current number of new of COVID-19 cases âdoesnât lend itself to safety,â and Jones was unsure if he would feel comfortable calling people for jury duty and people would feel comfortable coming in, he said.