3 hrs ago
The 16th Judicial Circuit court system in Monroe County court has its first in-person criminal trial scheduled to begin next month, after a year of disruption because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the past year, a large amount of proceedings relegated to Zoom and other video-conferencing platforms.
The scheduled trial is a sign of an eventual return to full normalcy for the courts, but when exactly that will happen is still unknown, said Mark Jones, chief judge of the 16th Judicial Circuit. Jones will be presiding over the felony trial next month. He said one trial was already on the schedule for April, but it ended in a plea agreement.