When spring comes in. This is the first day of spring. Spring is a time that of renewal, rebirth, always a time of hope. So i think it is significant that we think about that today. We are in dead winter. We know this winter, what we are going through, is going to continue for a while. But we also know there is hope. And we know that spring will come. Spring will come to ohio and across this country and it reminds us of how good life is, and the importance of all of us to do everything we can to get through this and to move forward. There will be a new day coming. And if dr. Acton was right, we may see a baby boom. See a lot of babies born. Thans nothing more joyful the birth of a child. So we have a lot to look forward to. I want to thank all my fellow citizens in ohio. For what they are doing. Because it truly is a patriotic act, individual things that people are doing, what people are doing to help their fellow citizens, what they are doing to stay away from their fellow citizens. That truly is patriotic. I was reminded this morning, there were headlines across the state, but it was a pretty good headline. Indicationetty good of what ohioans and americans are doing across our country. Good deeds galore. I want to thank everyone who has been doing good deeds, we have a lot of us to do, but thank you so much for doing that. My friend, albert ratner, who is in his 90s, remarkable man, called me last night and he said, you know mike, when you are trying to grasp how to explain this to people, what we are going through, what lies ahead, he said, you might use pearl harbor as an example. He said we were attacked, we rallied, we fought back, it took a while. And it is really true. We had been attacked. We had been attacked by this virus. And we are asking our fellow citizens to do extraordinary acts. We are asking them, each one, to do something. Each one to do the distancing. We are asking people to make the sacrifice, dont go on that spring break, dont get on that airplane, dont do all the things we normally do, dont go to the pub, dont go to the bar, dont go to the restaurant. And each one of us is making those sacrifices. And just as in a time of war where we have been hit by a foreign country, and we have been attacked by this virus, we have to pull together. Ultimately, it is going to be the small acts, what seems small, of each and every american that truly is going to make all the difference in the world. Each ohioan. When i came home last night, fran said you know, when we have thingss, 9 11, different that have gone on throughout history, americans have put out their flag. To really show unity, to show that we will not be pushed aside, we will not be conquered, we will be defiant. And so im asking today, all ohioans to put their flag up. Fly that flag every single day. If you have an ohio flag, fly that. But most people have an american flag. Put that flag out. Out,tells me she put ours on our front porch. Dr. Actin said her husband just put their flag out. So i would ask all my fellow ohio citizens to do that. We will get through this, spring will come, and all the joys of life, we will again be able to enjoy. We have several speakers today to kind of give you an update of what is going on. Ive asked people who really have an expertise to come in. I want to first start with the chief justice of the state of and whatie oconnell, the chief justice will do is talk about the judiciary, talk about the courts, coequal branch of government and she will then take questions from the news media. I would just ask that the questions be confined to the chief and to the issues obviously in regards to the courts and the criminal justice system. We have people throughout the state who worked very hard. Whether it is job prosecutors, whether it is courts, and we could go on and on. Judges and everybody. Chief, i will ask you to come up and say some words and give a report to the people of the state of ohio. Chief, thank you very much. Chief Justice Oconnor thank you. Thank you very much, governor. Thank you for the invitation to participate this afternoon. I want to thank you for your courageous leadership on the subject. I think that you have set ohio as an example for the rest of the nation and we are proud. This is an unprecedented time. A time when the judiciary of ohio as well as the bar, the state and local leaders must come together to guarantee the vital and continued operation of the states traditional system and the publics access to justice. I both commend and thank ohios judiciary for taking action, issuing orders, and considering the health and safety of the staff. As well as their all the while mindful of the structure and dictates of our constitution and our laws. My intent today is to let everyone know what the courts are doing, and my expectation of what they should be doing to continue operating in a manner consistent with the states Public Health strategy. Last friday, i met with the state judicial leadership to discuss the dish areas to this pandemic. After that meeting, i sent a email to all judges in ohio. In the meeting and email, i emphasized several key points that i want to highlight today. Be open to address emergency and time sensitive matters. Indiscriminate closures of the courts with no plan for these issues is not an option. Judges across each county must cooperate amongst themselves to issue orders and establish procedures necessary to continue essential Court Functions in this rapidly developing situation, and in light of the further directives of governor dewine and health officials. They need for uniform buyin and consistency among judges is paramount. Further, judges need to consult and collaborate with local plan, toto develop a ensure an essential access to the courts that it will continue. This collaborative collaboration needs to include all stakeholders, clerks of court, health and Law Enforcement officials, attorneys, treatment providers, Children Services and others. These are all essential members of the operation. Total closure of the courts and the clerks of courts offices presents and access to justice issue. Measures can be taken to ensure access to justice while safeguarding the health of employees by limiting, but not eliminating access. The courts can be closed to the public firm nonessential purposes. Ive asked judges to prioritize their workload, to reduce the need for jury pools and the level of Public Traffic in courthouses. I encourage them to maximize technology and to modify their orders to reduce the need for facetoface interaction. I urge them to consider lowering bonds and using summons instead of arrest to help minimize jail populations. I noted some creative local solutions to these problems and urged courts to use their authority and to their initiative to employ similar solutions. Courts all over the state have responded by issuing orders that that. T i might add that the website of the ohio judicial conference which can be accessed from our sc. Ohio. Gov contains the orders issued by the local courts. You will know the response by our judiciary. For example, courts and Cuyahoga County have suspended all non all criminal injury trials are they have implemented a jury call in systems or jurors would not have to appear unnecessarily. Also, when possible, hearings are being condemned being conducted by video to reduce persontoperson contact. Foreclosure actions and sheriff sales are stayed for 60 days. This will ensure that individuals are not forced out of their home during the Public Health crisis. County has leveraged their existing Statutory Authority under the ohio revised code to extend pd extend speedy trial times on the grounds of the covers emergency declaration. Ohio revisedised, code 2945. 72 states the time within which an accused may be brought to trial or in the case of a felony to plumbing airy hearing and trials may be extended during the period for the period of any continuance granted on the accused motion and the period of any reasonable continuance granted other than an accused motion. This allows for continuances among reasonable grounds. Judges can and should employ the provision where appropriate and issue orders, detailing the reasonable grounds for the continuance. Franklin county Municipal Court has authorized the use of recognizance bonds for nonviolent misdemeanors and traffic cases. There is still more work to be done. I want to encourage local courts to continue using their own authority and initiative to address common issues that we see across the state. For example, i urge all judges to grant continuances or use alternately alternate methods for nonessential court appearances. Ensure the Clerks Office remains opened and are accessible to the public. Temporarily stay appropriate evictions and foreclosure proceedings. Temporarily refrain from issuing warrants for failure to appear for traffic violations, minor misdemeanor, and nonviolent misdemeanor offenses. Remote ando provide yet meaningful Treatment Options for those with suss a Substance Abuse disorder. Change probation and Community Control and pretrial supervision meetings to phone or video reporting. Finally, i urge judges to use their discretion to release people held in jail and release incarcerated individuals who are in a high risk category for being infected with the virus. Looking ahead, we will be working with the governor and the General Assembly on a legislative proposal which will provide more uniformity and continuity in our judicial systems response to emergencies such as this. I must also mention the work of the Supreme Court staff itself. We continue to consider and decide cases. Although we have taken commonsense measures consistent with the governors guidance to reduce risk, the court remains open. We have essential staff performing their duties on and offsite, we will continue to accept case filings, provide support for judges for local court staff, and for attorneys. Localy, i understand many courts lack the technology and resources needed to implement many of the suggestions. The supreme demand, court will release funds in the form of grants to local courts to obtain videoconferencing equipment. It is my hope that by pushing out this funding on an emergency basis, we can assist the local courts in a quick implementation of videoconferencing for arraignments and other conferencing means. I expect to announce the process for those grants tomorrow. We have decided on an amount of 4 million that will be taken from my budget and dispersed to the local courts for this purpose. Before i take your questions, i would like to say i have personally been in touch with judges, the bar associations leadership, and in constant conversation with the director of the ohio judicial conference, paul pfeiffer. We are working together in this everchanging environment, and we are so pleased to continue to do so. Thank you. I will take any questions you might have. Reporter kevin landers. Can you explain a little bit more about releasing prisoners who are in the highrisk risk category of attracting the virus . Thank you. Chief Justice Oconnor there obviously are many different ages and Health Conditions of prisoners in our jails. An assessment should be done to determine whether or not they can safely be released, given the fact of their age and may be other Health Conditions that they might have that they have to deal with. This is twofold. Safeguard the folks that are in jail. And also, to offer the individual who may be at risk the opportunity to be isolated outside of the jail environment. This is up to the local courts to do. And in conjunction obviously with the sheriffs who run the jails. But this is something ive asked them to consider. Reporter this is Molly Martinez with spectrum news. Im wondering if theres any push to clear out lowlevel offenders and make more room in the prisons during this pandemic . Gov. Dewine i dont speak chief Justice Oconnor i dont speak for the prisons, i speak for the jails when i make this recommendation. Reporter will there be leniency in the jails and who is incarcerated . Chief Justice Oconnor i mentioned the judges should and theheir bail circumstances of which they have people detained in the jails. And prioritize releases based on that. Reporter thank you. Reporter jim province with the toledo blade. There were two justices who have recused themselves from the election day lawsuit. Could you tell us how you will replace them in considering this case . And if you can, can you comment on the fact that you are being sued over your election day morning decision . Chief Justice Oconnor im not going to comment on pending cases. I will tell you in general, when cases are not orally argued, there is no need for a visiting judge to sit on a case. We need four justices to create a majority as you well know. And as long as we have four justices that are in unison, there is no need to deal with the fact that we dont have four justices. If we did have a problem with four justices, there would be in agreement, then there would be a need to supplement with visiting judges. But not at this time. Reporter thank you. Andrew welsh, with the associated press. In terms of the recommendations that you have made that you would like to see judges and courts undertake, can you explain whether you have the ability to ramp that up at all and make a judicial order . Depending on your answer to that, is that something you would take advantage . Instead of making recommendations, do you have any way to issue a directive, an order to judges to actually do these things . Chief Justice Oconnor thank you for that question. There are two different types of judicial systems in the 50 states we have in our country. One is called a unified system. And one is what we have here in ohio which is a nonunified system. The unified system, the Supreme Court, the chief justice, has that type of power that you just described, and can issue directives not just for emergency situations but many other situations that present themselves in the course of managing the judicial system in the state. We dont have that in ohio. We have superintendents rule 14 which is a declaration of a judicial emergency. This does not go as far as what you were suggesting that there would be a pronouncement from the chief justice that would be binding on all judges. At least that is my interpretation of rule 14 at this time. When i mentioned that we are looking at legislation, that is exactly what we are looking at. To create legislation that would under very, very limited and specialized circumstances, such as what we are experiencing here, should there be a need, the opportunity for the chief justice to make those types of orders that would be binding on the judiciary. Reporter real quickly, the legislature is meeting next week. Are you looking at fixing that quickly when you talk about that legislation . Chief Justice Oconnor in an ideal world, that is the way it would happen. We are not in an ideal world so we will see. Reporter thanks. Reporter this is jakes ackerman. I wanted to talk about your decision against any moratorium on evictions. Is it prudent to allow the eviction process to continue in this pandemic . Chief Justice Oconnor would you repeat your question . Reporter i thought you said there is no more moratorium on evictions. Could you clarify that and is it prudent to allow the eviction process to continue . Chief Justice Oconnor that is an interesting question. Most people think evictions are nonpayments of your rent or whatever the situation. There are certain types of evictions that may be, Domestic Violence and trying to get somebody evicted from the home because they present a danger to the other members living in that home. It is up to the courts to deal with that. And to figure out yes, if there is an eviction that is in process or going they could have a moratorium on filing of evictions. And foreclosures in the same way. They can do that. Then again, they have to have the flexibility that if someone needs to be removed through the eviction process, because they are a Domestic Violence perpetrator, that should be allowable on the local courts judgment and their initiative. Ohio has 88 different counties, over 700 judges, over 350 courts in this state. And we are not, as i said, a unified state. But there is a reason i think it may be that. Is because we have such a variety of communities and Court Systems and resources. I am in favor of the solutions being from the locals and implemented by the local courts and local Community Leaders and officials, of course. Resortst resort, i would to the contents of the legislation i just described. The different mayors in state that im aware of have urged that evictions be stayed, that any utilities be reinstated, or the process to terminate be suspended. Andthose are good practices those are practices that i definitely would urge. Reporter thank you. Reporter hello, chief justice. Im told im your last question today. Apparently Hamilton County judge has asked you to issue a uniform order, uniformed guidance in keeping with your power to do all things necessary to ensure the orderly and Efficient Administration of justice. And related to that, can you speak to any equal protection concerns for potential jurors or witnesses in different counties under varying covid19 orders to appear or not appear in court . Chief Justice Oconnor would you repeat what the judge from Hamilton County for what purpose . Reporter based on a cleveland. Com article, apparently they are quoting him. He is asking you to issue a uniform order for all courts based on your power to do all things necessary to ensure the orderly and Efficient Administration of justice. In other w