September 24, 2020 at 11:50 a.m.
Valentine jury trial first in local judicial district since March
Valentine jury trial first in local judicial district since March
The 9th Judicial District covers the following counties in northcentral Wisconsin: Oneida, Price, Shawano, Taylor, Florence, Forest, Iron, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Menominee and Vilas.
Under the order, all courts were instructed to postpone all criminal and civil trials until after May 22. On that date the state Supreme Court issued an extension of an interim rule that required counties to submit a reopening plan to the chief judge of their judicial district.
Following the guidelines of the Oneida County reopening plan, jury selection for the Valentine trial was conducted by Judge Michael Bloom in the large meeting room in the Oneida County Criminal Justice Center instead of the courtroom. Like all the other changes to the procedures throughout the trial, this was done to promote social distancing.
Jury selection took about 40 minutes. After relocating to the courthouse, the jurors were seated in the gallery area of the courtroom, necessitating those seated at the prosecution and defense tables to move to the other side of the tables to face the jury. The court reporter, who normally sits near the judge, was also moved closer to the jury in order to better hear the two lawyers.
With the 12 jurors taking up the entire small gallery area, there was not a lot of room for Valentine's family or other observers. The family was allowed to view the proceedings from one of the two small rooms in the back of the courtroom while other observers were directed to the other.
The courtroom has been outfitted with a series of Plexiglas panels that serve to separate people, with several panels separating the judge from the clerk and reporter stations and those stations from each other and the lawyers.
Everyone entering the courtroom was required to where a face mask or shield, with disposable masks available for those without one. Hand sanitizer was also located at the door of the courtroom. This included the members of the jury.
As a concession for the jury, witnesses were allowed to remove their mask while testifying.
When the jury was not in the courtroom, the panel retired to the large committee room where social distancing was easier to accomplish. Deliberations took place in the Branch I jury room on the third floor because it is larger.
Once the jury reached a verdict in the Valentine case, in approximately 30 minutes, Bloom thanked the panel for putting up with the extra measures.
"I appreciate what the 12 of you have done over the course of the day starting this morning when you arrived at the law enforcement center," Bloom said. "As I indicated, this is the first 12-person jury trial in the 9th Judicial District since the onset of the COVID pandemic, and it was different than it normally is. It's been challenging for those of us in the court system, and I hope it wasn't overly taxing for the 12 of you."
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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