By Adam Cooper
Jurors will be allocated entire courtrooms in which to deliberate and won't have to hold religious books or exhibits when trials return to Victorian courts next month.
Four months after they were suspended because of social-distancing rules brought on by coronavirus, jury trials will return to the Supreme and County courts on July 20.
County Court judge Trevor Wraight during a remote plea hearing last month.Credit: Joe Armao
The courts announced on Monday that following advice from health officials and after weeks of planning, jury trials could return.
In the Supreme Court – which has five available courtrooms – no more than three trials will be heard at once. There are more then 40 courtrooms available in the the County Court, but at first it will hold just two trials simultaneously, with plans to increase that to five and then to 10.
The resumption of trials means courts can again hear serious criminal matters in hundreds of cases. There is a backlog of an estimated 750 cases in which accused people, plus complainants and witnesses, are waiting for trials to begin. The backlog means many trials won't start until next year.
The first wave of trials must comply with social distancing requirements, which means new spacing arrangements.
In the Supreme Court, jurors will be seated throughout courtrooms rather than next to each other in the jury box, while in the County Court jury boxes will be made larger. Courtrooms will be allocated for deliberations, giving jurors more space than in current jury rooms.
Lawyers will occupy the boxes currently reserved for jurors in the Supreme Court, and accused people and custody officers will be seated in areas that had been reserved for the media. Reporters and other onlookers will sit in the public gallery. The County Court will dot onlookers throughout courtrooms.
Pools of potential jurors will be smaller and juries will be selected virtually. Notices summoning people for jury duty will be sent out in coming weeks.
Some witnesses will give evidence via video links to keep numbers down inside courts, and handrails and benches in witness boxes will be cleaned regularly to maintain hygiene levels.
Witnesses and jurors won't be required to hold religious texts when sworn in, while jurors will each be provided with tablets to view exhibits rather than handle them. Gloves will be available for handling exhibits that cannot be copied.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Anne Ferguson and County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd welcomed the return of jury trials and said their only change would be the way they looked.
"Central to this plan has been ensuring that we can provide a comfortable environment for jurors and all court users, consistent with measures being adopted across the community, as we return to more everyday activities," they said in a statement.
One of the biggest challenges will be deciding which trials will be among the first to start. Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said on Monday the courts were under "enormous pressure" to determine which cases would go ahead first.
Criminal Bar Association of Victoria chairman Daniel Gurvich, QC, said the cases he expected to be given priority were those with a single accused, most likely in custody, and where an attempt had previously been made to list the trial. Offences such as sexual assault cases could be among those given precedence, he said.
"Trial by jury is so fundamental to our system of criminal justice that it needed to return as soon as it was safe to do so," Mr Gurvich said.
Almost 40 per cent of Victoria's 8000 prisoners are on remand and yet to have their cases finalised, either by awaiting trials or appearances before magistrates.
In April, the Andrews government passed laws allowing accused people to request judge-only trials, but so far only one person has sought and been granted the option.
With AAP