New York attorneys spotlight Queens' lone pandemic-era jury trial
/
Queens’ lone jury trial since March was the focus of a panel discussion at the New York State Bar Association’s annual conference Wednesday. The criminal court building’s ceremonial courthouse was outfitted in plexiglass to separate parties. Eagle file photo by David Brand
By David Brand
Robert Harris wanted his day in court, and he was willing to wait out a pandemic to get it.
Charged with breaking into a Jamaica home in 2018, Harris sat on Rikers Island for more than two years, including an eight-month jury trial suspension.
In November, he finally got a chance to appear before a jury of his peers inside a Queens criminal courtroom. The 12 jurors convicted him of second-degree criminal trespass and Justice Ira Margulis sentenced him to 364 days in prison, time he had already served.
That criminal jury trial, reported exclusively by the Eagle, received statewide attention Wednesday during the New York State Bar Association’s annual conference.
Margulis, defense attorney Michael Anastasiou and prosecutor Greg Lasak described the proceedings and various precautions put in place during a discussion moderated by attorney David Cohen. Margulis’ Principal Court Attorney Rosemary Chao and former Queens Executive Assistant District Robert Masters, chair of the NYSBA’s Criminal Justice Section, also participated on the panel.
What would have been a routine trial back in March 2020 quickly took on new significance, Margulis said. He declared a mistrial during March jury selection as COVID-19 began spreading rapidly in the borough, but he and Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas earmarked the case for the eventual resumption of jury trials, a brief window that opened and quickly closed in November 2020.
Clockwise from top left: former Queens Executive Assistant District Attorney Robert Masters, Queens Justice Ira Margulis, defense attorney Michael Anastasiou, Margulis’ law secretary Rosemary Chao, prosecutor Greg Lasak and attorney David Louis Cohen participate in the discussion on Queens’ lone trial jury since March. Image via NYSBA
Margulis said ensuring jurors felt safe and comfortable was key to conducting the trial. Jurors sat spaced apart in the gallery rather than in the jury box, proceedings were broadcast on screens around the courtroom and the bench and attorney tables were outfitted with plexiglass. He was also lenient with prospective jurors who did not want to serve during the pandemic, he said during a presentation that featured photos of the courtroom taken by the Eagle.
“We had 12 jurors and four alternates,” he told the Eagle in November. “They all came in on time when they were supposed to and we didn’t lose one.”
Harris, the defendant, did not participate on the panel Monday, but Anastasiou described his eagerness to get to trial.
“He was having a very difficult time at Rikers. He was scared of COVID, he felt the judge should release him,” Anastasiou said.“The judge did not release Mr. Harris or reduce the bail, so I promised Robert when it was time to go we were going to go.”
Nevertheless, Anastasiou continued, he was concerned “with balancing safety and the constitutional rights he had.”
Harris underwent regular COVID tests during the 10-day trial, though he noted some irony in the dutiful exams. Harris rarely had his health considered when he was on Rikers, Anastasiou said.
“If you guys weren’t concerned about my safety then, why are you concerned about it now,” Anastasiou recalled Harris saying.
Margulis and Zayas made certain accommodations to allow Anastasious and Harris to meet in the cell connected with the courtroom during trial. They sat side by side but were separated by plexiglass, forcing them to communicate by phone.
Lasak, the prosecutor, also faced obstacles to trying a case he picked up in the summer, when another assistant district attorney left the office. He said he was determined to keep witnesses safe as they prepared for trial.
“Before we got into the substance of the case, we need an open line of communication,” he said he told them. “If I feel off or if you feel off, we can postpone preparations.”
The most challenging portion of the trial involved preparing an interpreter for an eyewitness, Lasak said.
“We needed to get three people in my office and make sure we were all six feet from each other, all had masks, all had a bottle of sanitizer,” he said. “We made it through preparations as seamlessly as possible, but it was certainly challenging.”
That jury trial will likely be the last in Queens for a while. It remains unclear when jury selection will resume in the borough or elsewhere in New York City as COVID-19 continues to surge.
As it stands, judges cannot access the COVID-19 vaccine. Nor can incarcerated defendants awaiting court appearances.
Several attorneys and court observers at the time criticized the decision to hold the trial as an unnecessary risk during the pandemic.
But Zayas, Queens’ top judge, praised the attorneys and judicial staff who made it possible. In November, he said he looked forward to allowing more defendants to have their day in court too.
“Unfortunately, after many months of not being able to try cases because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are a number of defendants in the same position as Mr. Harris,” Zayas told the Eagle.
“And many of their attorneys — though not all of them — are willing to put aside whatever legitimate concerns they might have about returning to court during this time so that their clients can have their cases adjudicated.”
