Queens courtrooms modernize as trial capacity increases
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(From left to right) Queens Supreme Court Justice Ira Margulis, Facilities Supervisor and Case Management Coordinator Shev Murad, Major Terrence Flanagan, First Deputy Chief Clerk Sherise Ellison, Administrative Judge George Grasso, Queens Technical Manager Michael Cheung, Network and System Engineer Lauren Hawk and Principal Law Clerk to the Administrative Judge Lorraine O’Donoghue-Basile. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
By Jacob Kaye
As COVID-19 restrictions begin to ease, Queens Criminal Court’s top judge says the court’s capacity to hold trials is greatly expanding – and court officials are ready.
George Grasso, the administrative judge for criminal matters in Queens Supreme Court, said the Office of Court Administration’s reduction in social distancing requirements – from six feet to three feet – will allow the court to increase its trial capacity from six to 10 simultaneous trials and bring justice to court users quicker.
“It certainly enhances our capacity to deliver on that trial capacity,” Grasso told the Eagle. “We have to not only build the capacity, we have to let everybody know we have the capacity and then actually use the capacity – then we get these results.”
With the easing of COVID restrictions, Grasso says Queens Criminal Court is approaching a trial capacity not seen since before the pandemic began in 2020.
At the top of Grasso’s priority list are two types of cases – ones that involve a person being held on Rikers Island and ones that involve top count gun charges.
“One of the problems that we developed, not only in Queens Supreme Court but throughout the city, is as we had less jury trial capacity driven by the pandemic and various limitations with the pandemic, what we've seen is not a total increase in cases, but also an increase in cases involving incarcerated defendants,” Grasso said. “In particular, defendants who would have been incarcerated for over two years.”
“We're focusing on pulling them out and then getting to the trial, getting the plea,” he added. “If the defendant gets their trial, obviously, and they're found not guilty, then the case is resolved. That is a critical matter.”
As part of her State of the Judiciary Address issued last week, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said this year would be the year the state’s court and court system resets. Coming out of the pandemic, DiFiore noted that the way the courts look and operate in the coming year wouldn’t resemble the way the courts looked before the pandemic. Rather, the courts would take lessons learned from the pandemic and implement them in a post-pandemic world in an effort to improve the ways justice is dispensed in New York.
“Our workforce is effectively fully vaccinated, we know how to safely navigate the challenges of the pandemic, and we have a powerful, productive new hybrid operating model to help us manage our dockets and deliver justice services as effectively, efficiently and safely as possible,” DiFiore said in her speech.
The sentiment is one that Grasso appears to have taken to heart. Last week, Grasso gave the Eagle a tour of one of the Queens Criminal Courthouse’s revamped courtrooms, equipped with new technology and other changes, all with the aim of facilitating justice.
The most notable change in the courtroom is its use of audio and visual technology, made necessary by the pandemic and social distancing requirements but also helpful in a post-pandemic world, helping to bring the courts into the 21st Century.
The effort to modernize the courtroom was led by Michael Cheung, the Queens technical manager, and his IT team.
As part of the upgrades, the judge will be outfitted with a lapel microphone, multiple microphones will be placed near the prosecution and the defendant, the courtroom speaker systems have been replaced and upgraded and three large televisions have been installed to help all involved parties see each other and any piece of evidence – what appears on the screens will be controlled by clerk.
There are currently seven courtrooms within the courthouse that have been outfitted with the new tech. Grasso said the goal is to get all 24 courtrooms upgraded.
“It was the global pandemic that inspired us to build this, but when we get to endemic and post-pandemic, we still have this, which is going to greatly enhance our abilities and our capacity,” Grasso said.
But changing the courts doesn’t stop at the technology. Though the social distancing rules have been reduced, they still exist and limit court officials’ ability to place jurors in one jury box. As such, court officials have had to utilize entire courtrooms to hold jury selection and to hold trials.
Major Terrence Flanagan said the court officers’ have been able to block out the courtrooms to ensure social distance is kept and that the guidance is clearly understood.
“No jury has walked out of here saying that they felt unsafe, or that they were taken advantage of with social distancing or any issues like that,” Flanagan said. “I'm very proud of that.”
Changing the courtrooms has been a team effort, Grasso said. Judges, clerks, court officers, court staff, the district attorney’s office, public defense groups and bar associations have all been brought in to help chart a path forward, according to the administrative judge.
Flanagan, who has been working as a supervisor for over two decades, said he’s been surprised at the speed and success of the Queens Criminal Courthouse’s ability to adapt.
“If you would have told me five years ago, we're going to do a trial and this is what we're going to do, I would have said, ‘Absolutely not, you can't do it that way,’” Flanagan said. “But you're given these circumstances and you have to work with it.”
“We're all trying to move forward with this and Judge Grasso has a plan to get rid of these cases and we're doing well actually,” he added. “We're very happy with our progress.”
