Today, the Iowa Supreme Court issued an order postponing all jury trials until February 1, 2021, unless the jury is sworn in prior to November 16, 2020. Clerk of court offices throughout the state will remain open and nonjury trials and face-to-face court proceedings and services will continue.
“We monitor the daily positivity rates of COVID-19 in Iowa and have decided that bringing together the number of people required for a jury trial creates too high of a risk for someone to be exposed, even with the multitude of safeguards we have in place,” Chief Justice Susan Christensen said. “The courts compel citizens to serve on juries and Iowans consistently respond by doing their civic duty. With the current high rate of COVID-19 positive tests in the state, it is time to pause jury trials to protect public safety and mitigate the impact of the virus.”
Today’s supreme court order is available on the Iowa Judicial Branch’s dedicated COVID-19 webpage at https://www.iowacourts.gov/iowa-courts/covid-19-information-and-updates/