TAMPA, Fla. — The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida resumes jury trials Monday.
The court serves Hillsborough County.
The State Attorney's Office says victims and their families have been waiting for justice more than six months. In that amount of time, at least 180 cases are usually handled.
What You Need To Know
- Jury trials set to resume Monday at Hillsborough County's Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court
- Several safety precautions put in place as jury trials return
- What You Need To Know: Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court
"Being finally able to try people for serious crimes is important to hold them accountable and to protect public safety but at the same time it’s so important for victims and their families to be able to come in and get that closure," said State Attorney Andrew Warren.
Several safety precautions will be taken at the courthouse, including:
- Temperature checks
- Masks required
- Social distancing required
- Less people in courtrooms
Also, instead of one large jury pool, jurors will arrive in much smaller groups with staggered times.
Warren said the jury auditorium will be cleaned after each group of jurors, overflow seating outside jury box to separate jurors and sanitizing stations available throughout complex.
"We’re spacing out when people come into the courthouse, we’re having staggered jurors, rather than bringing in 500 people on a Monday morning," Warren said. "For victims and their families who have been waiting now for six months to have that last bit of closure, this is a really big step.”