Trial by Zoom - Special Attention Judges & Trial Attorneys

By Robert Phillips, Deputy District Attorney (Ret)

Trial by Zoom:  Ahhh . . . , the wonders of modern technology.  In this era of everyone’s possible exposure to COVID-19, and considering the nature of jury trials where judges, attorneys, defendants, jurors, and witnesses, along with anyone else from the general public who might wander in to see what’s going on, all pushed into the close confines of a courtroom, it’s a wonder that communicable diseases aren’t spread more often than they are.  But one federal district court judge in Nevada came up with an innovative solution when the possible threat of a COVID-19 exposure reared its ugly head in her courtroom, as described in the unpublished Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal decision of United States v. Knight (9th Cir. Jan. 4, 2023) 2023 U.S.App. LEXIS 87.  In Knight, a juror in a robbery trial that was just about to begin reported to the court that his wife was sick at home, and that he may have been exposed to COVID as a result. Hoping to find a way not to interfere with ....

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