Because of the surging Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, and to protect juror and witness safety, Clallam County courts are reducing jury trials in January 2022.
The Clallam County Superior Court is cancelling the start of all new jury trials in January, 2022. Jury trials already in progress, such as the Bauer murder trial, will continue on schedule. People with trials scheduled in January should contact their attorney or the court to determine what their responsibilities are. These limits are in Emergency Order 21-2-00001-05 entered by Judge Lauren Erickson on December 30 2021, which can be found at http://www.clallam.net/superiorcourt/.
Clallam County District Court I (Port Angeles) has also restricted trial and court access through January 26, 2022. Jury trials are postponed, and criminal defendants must contact their attorney or the court to make alternate arrangements. For civil matters, including name changes, anti-harassment cases, infraction cases (traffic), and civil motions, contact the court for scheduling. More information is available at http://www.clallam.net/DC1/index.html.
Clallam County District Court II (“The Forks Court”) information is available at http://www.clallam.net/DC2/index.html.
The Clallam County Superior Court has implemented many detailed measures to make legal proceedings as safe as possible for everyone, and to help minimize local COVID surges from overwhelming our community health system. Those include reconfiguring the courtrooms to create social distance space between everyone in the court room, requiring masks, creating a procedure for potential jurors to postpone their jury duty, and conducting jury selection in a large and well ventilated area.
Clallam County judges work with local health officials to determine optimal safety measures.