Sonoma County court halts new jury trials due to local omicron surge

5 January 2022

Some civil and criminal trials not currently in progress in Sonoma County Superior Court have been postponed due to the ongoing local surge of COVID-19 cases attributed to the highly contagious omicron variant, court officials announced Tuesday.

According to an emergency order signed by Presiding Judge Shelly Averill, criminal jury trials originally scheduled for January that have not yet started are put off until after March 1 or later. Civil jury trials have been pushed back even later, until after March 31.

“Due to the recent substantial surge in COVID-19 delta variant infections, and the arrival of the highly contagious omicron variant, as reported by the California Department of Public Health and the Center for Disease Control, action is needed to maintain a substantial level of court services to the public, to maintain access to justice for all, and to keep all who enter a courthouse, including employees of the court and jurors, as safe as possible through the next 30 days,” Averill wrote in her order.

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