Lancaster County police will have mental health professionals on-call this weekend lancasteronline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lancasteronline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
What does justice look like when it is being sought in a wrongful death lawsuit against police and the government?
Does it mean money for the victimâs family? Or is it changes to laws or policies? Or some combination?
The mother of Ricardo Muñoz is seeking justice, according to attorneys who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit last month. Munoz was the mentally ill man killed by a Lancaster police officer in September.
The primary defendants in the motherâs lawsuit are the officer who shot Muñoz, the city and Lancaster County.Â
âSometimes a community must look beyond itself for justice, and thatâs what the federal courts are for. We are looking to shine a light upon the system failures in responding to this call for help,â one of the familyâs attorneys, Julie Murphy, said in a statement after the suit was filed last week.
Criminal trials will resume in Lancaster County per a new administrative order from President Judge David Ashworth.
The order states that while the courthouse will remain closed to the general public to minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19, trials can resume starting March 1 at the discretion of each judge and providing there are resources available.
Last month, Ashworth said he was hoping to open up three courtrooms, along with room 102/104 in the Lancaster County Government building, to be used for trials. The rooms are large enough to ensure social distancing of court staff, jurors and attorneys.
âEverything remains the same (as last week s plan),â Ashworth said in an email Tuesday. âOf course, it also remains fluid.â
Lancaster County criminal justice officials are hoping to restart criminal jury trials in order to clear a growing backlog caused after most court operations were suspended in the face of the pandemic.
President Judge David Ashworth said that courtrooms 12 and 2 are currently being fitted with plexiglass to allow safe jury trials to commence.
Prior to the most recent suspension of trials on Jan. 5, jury trials had briefly started back up in Courtroom A, as well as in room 102/104 of the Lancaster County Government building. Ashworth said 8 trials were completed.
But for 2020 overall, the total number of jury trials was down over 60% as compared to the prior two years.