Criminal jury trials resume in Queens after eight-month suspension
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Jury trials are set to resume in the Queens Criminal Court building tomorrow. Eagle file photo by David Brand
By David Brand
For the first time in eight months, a jury trial will begin in Queens Criminal Supreme Court Wednesday.
The man on trial, defendant Robert Harris, is charged with second-degree burglary after he allegedly broke into a home in 2018. His attorney, Michael Anastasiou, did not respond to requests for comment.
The trial marks a major milestone for the Queens court system, where jury proceedings ceased March 16 as a result of the COVID crisis. Grand juries reconvened in August, but the process of summoning hundreds of Queens residents to serve as potential jurors for criminal trials has remained on hold as New York City contends with an historic public health crisis. The courthouse itself is located near the Central Queens cluster zone, where positive COVID test rates spiked in September before easing last month.
Still, several attorneys and court staff members remain wary of jury trials resuming. A recent positive COVID case in the courthouse — an intern in the Queens District Attorney’s Office who sat in on proceedings Oct. 23 — has only raised concerns among attorneys and advocates about the resumption of jury trials.
Five public defenders from the organization Queens Defenders quarantined for two weeks after sharing a courtroom with the intern who had COVID, said Executive Director Lori Zeno.
Zeno said the Office of Court Administration has not done enough to prevent the spread of the virus inside New York courthouses — particularly in holding areas where defendants wait for their proceedings in confined spaces — and she worries about dozens of people from across the borough visiting the courthouse.
“I have had it,” Zeno said of OCA last month. “They do nothing. All they keep doing is ordering people to go to court.”
OCA points to various protocols they have established, including mask requirements, daily cleanings, and mandatory temperature checks and health screenings for all court visitors and staff.
The jury selection process will begin at Queens Borough Hall tomorrow morning.
About 200 potential jurors from across the borough will respond to their summonses and visit the jury intake room inside Borough Hall, near the courthouse, said Chief Clerk Audrey Pheffer.
Clerk staff will immediately dismiss several people, while the rest will go across the street to the Queens Criminal Court building for jury selection, Pheffer said.
Jury selection and the trial will take place inside the large ceremonial courtroom, located on the first floor of the Kew Gardens building. Plexiglass partitions separate the bench and the attorneys’ tables from the rest of the room.
Jurors will enter the courtroom in cohorts and sit several feet apart in the audience, according to court staff. Other potential jurors will remain in two other courtrooms while they await their appearance before the presiding judge, Justice Ira Margulis.
Last week, jury pools for two Civil Supreme Court trials gathered at Borough Hall in a change from usual procedures.
Civil jury pools typically visit the Civil Courthouse on Sutphin Boulevard, but that building was already too crowded to fit dozens of Queens residents, Pheffer said. She directed them to Borough Hall instead.
There are no new Queens Civil Supreme Court trials on the calendar this week, which frees up the Borough Hall space for the criminal jurors.
Officials are still considering how to best manage jury pools for both civil and criminal trials in the weeks and months ahead, she said.
Pheffer said the civil jury process went well, and that the courts are prepared to handle the challenge of resuming criminal trials, too.
“I’m glad the courts are open and the jury system is operating again,” Pheffer said Oct. 21. “It’s a right under the Constitution to be judged by your peers.”
