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Jury trials back on in North Idaho

by KAYE THORNBRUGH
Staff Writer | September 2, 2021 1:00 AM

Jury trials for the week of Sept. 7 will go on in Idaho’s First Judicial District, which is comprised of the five northern counties

A rising COVID-19 case rate previously halted jury trials in several counties.

The Idaho Supreme Court issued an emergency order in June requiring any county to pause jury trials if the county’s seven-day moving average incident rate of confirmed or presumed cases of COVID-19 is 25.0 per 100,000 population or more.

Rich Christensen, Administrative District Judge of the First District, signed an order last week pausing trials for the week of Aug. 30 pursuant to the order.

Trials were suspended in Benewah, Bonner, Kootenai and Shoshone counties.

This week, Deputy Administrative District Judge Cynthia Meyer ordered that next week’s trials will go ahead.

Per the order, masks are no longer required in court facilities, nor is physical distancing of people from different households.

Judges may order masking and physical distancing in court proceedings before them.