Cillaliz, do you have any clue what is going to happen with criminal cases? Are they going to have to drop charges because they can't get to trial in a timely manner?
No, they declared an emergency and based on that speedy trial is waived. When they start back up, the in custodys will go first and they'll just keep going. Federal court is the same, but they didn't put things off as far. Most of the people being detained are just the most serious. A lot of people are being released pending trial.
In state court here, we do pleas, sentencings and hearings on GoToMeeting. So really the trials are the only thing being put off. In Federal court we still show up in person for sentencings. If you have a signed guilty plea, here they are allowing a defendant to request the presentence report to be prepared and then the plea and sentencing on one day. It puts things off for about 2-3 months
We're also doing depos on GoToMeeting. I don't know what other states are doing, but the system in state court is working. It will just be a total cluster when they open up again