Page 109 - FDCC Pandemic Book

Living in a Pandemic: A Collection of Stories on Coping, Resilience & Hope
wear a face shield while seated at the small table turned makeshift witness stand, but lawyers had to wear masks even while speaking. For opening statements I decided to don one of the court-provided clear face masks. It was made of a sheet of impermeable plastic with foam sides and elastic straps. This seemed like it would help the jurors see my sincerity, my smile, my passion. Instead, it allowed them to see a steamed up piece of plastic that kept sliding down my face and hear my labored attempts to move breath through the foam sides of the mask while trying to talk. I quickly decided that being able to breathe was more important than having the jurors see the lower part of my face, so I wore a surgical mask for the rest of the trial.
Our team made a conscious decision to have all of the defense witnesses appear live. All but one of plaintiff’s witnesses appeared via Zoom. Other than a few minor glitches, the court staff proficiently managed the Zoom witness appearance. The only problematic event occurred during the testimony of one of Plaintiff’s experts. As soon as Plaintiff’s counsel asked his objectionable question, the expert would launch into his objectionable answer. He either could not hear my objection or chose to ignore it. This required me to spend much of the direct examine in a half standing position, inches from the microphone, ready to quickly and loudly assert my objections to stop the expert’s answer and drown out whatever he was trying to blurt out before the judge could give a ruling.
Back at the hotel, the team took COVID tests each week and worked in several large war rooms where we could spread out. After the first week, the fear of being the person who might infect the whole team began to subside and the dynamic morphed into an almost typical trial experience. We were brought back to reality on a Sunday evening a couple weeks into trial when we received an email from the court telling us that one of the jurors had COVID symptoms.
Oh no, have I been exposed?
Will we lose the jury?
Will we have to pause the trial until the juror gets her COVID test results? Is this trial going to last into November?
Why didn’t I vote before I left for trial?
The court had protocols in place for this very scenario. Without much fanfare, the juror was excused, along with one other juror who did not feel comfortable returning. We were told to report for trial the next morning. We later learned the juror’s COVID test was negative and we made it to the end of trial with two alternate jurors to spare.
Although court was dark on Fridays, the team committed to staying in our bubble so no one traveled home on the weekends. A few weeks into trial my 11-year-old twin boys were texting me regularly to find out when I was coming home. Even my 14-year-old son was sending sad face emojis through Snapchat. My husband was a rock star through all of this, but the time away from home and the added stress of
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