Arraignments continue by video in Queens Criminal Court
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The Queens Criminal Courthouse. Eagle file photo by David Brand
By David Brand
Queens Criminal Court arraignments and meetings between defendants and their attorneys will take place by video conference, in accordance with a directive from the state court system.
Healthy defendants will be arraigned by video from Central Booking, while defendants who show signs of COVID-19 will be arraigned by video from the Red Hook Community Court, one of two sites designated for criminal court proceedings for sick defendants.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz outlined the shift to video arraignments and other measures to stem the spread of COVID-19 through the court system in a statement Tuesday.
The DA’s Office, Katz said, “will continue to function and work with our criminal justice system to assure that the rights of both defendants and victims are safeguarded.”
“The responsibilities of my office are essential to the continuing function of public safety and may be even more so as this crisis evolves,” she added.
The Queens DA’s Office and the courts will delay next scheduled court dates for detained defendants by 30 days. Court dates for defendants who are not in jail will be delayed by 90 days, Katz said.
Assistant district attorneys and other personnel may be assigned new duties as some staff members work from home or remotely, she said. Staff meetings will take place by video conference and workers will clean and sanitize the DA’s offices and the courthouse, Katz said.
Justice reform advocates have called on the Queens DA’s Office to cease the prosecution of various offenses in order to keep defendants out of jail amid the COVID-19 crisis. A Rikers Island correction officer tested positive for the illness, the city said Wednesday. A Department of Correction investigator died of the illness Sunday.
“We need commitments to drastically reduce prosecutions & release pretrial detainees & medically vulnerable individuals at a *minimum*” tweeted Katz’s former opponent for DA, Tiffany Cabán in response to the announcement from the Queens DA’s Office.
