We Don't Need A Live From But.........

[Jared Jordan]

Didn't mean to post right after my Mom, but such is life...

My office, the local Public Defender, has been closed to all but employees for nearly two weeks now. I'm not currently able to have office appointments with any out of custody clients. Since Friday, March 20, many of our judicial officers have self-quarantined. At this point, the criminal courts are only dealing with those people that are in custody with constitutional speedy trial/preliminary hearing rights in play. Everyone else has been continued on the court's own motion for 2-3 months, thanks to orders from the Chief Justice of the State of California authorizing all out of custody and "time waiver" cases to be rescheduled based upon COVID-19. I was in court this morning with a client on a no time waiver case. After that was rescheduled, I came back home with files and my laptop.

Between the DA and the PD, most "essential" employees are telecommuting and working from home with VPN access to our criminal justice information. I can't speak for the DA, but my office only has 3-5 attorneys going to court right now out of 35 salaried lawyers.