Page 107 - FDCC Pandemic Book

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.
The October 2020 trial date will never hold.
There is no way King County Washington can seat a jury in the middle of a pandemic. What potential jurors will agree to show up?
Voir dire by Zoom? How is that even possible?
Something will happen and the trial date will not hold, but I’ll book my plane ticket.
O n September 30, 2020 as I boarded a plane to Seattle packed for trial, I still did not believe the trial would happen. The team arrived early to quarantine and get COVID tested. No one wanted to be the person to test positive and blow the whole thing up, much less be quarantined with the virus, alone in a hotel room hundreds of miles from home. The negative test results were met with relief and the reality that
the trial was moving forward.
The first week of trial began with two hearings. One was held via Zoom, but the other was in person in the courthouse in Kent, Washington. The bustling courthouse was a little unsettling due to the number of people in the small hallway leading into the
Reflections On A Pandemic
Jury Trial
ANGELA BERANEK BRANDT, LARSON KING Larson King, LLP Saint Paul, MN
102