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A Texas county that is breaking ground by holding a jury trial over Zoom during the coronavirus pandemic hit a snag when one of the prospective jurors walked off screen to take a phone call.
The incident unfolded Monday during an insurance case that was being heard in Collin County. It was also live streamed on YouTube.
During the jury selection process, 470th District Judge Emily Miskel created three Zoom videoconferencing rooms – one where attorneys could question a group of prospective jurors, a second for those awaiting questioning and a third where Miskel could speak to the lawyers privately.
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After conferring with the attorneys during a break, Miskel returned to one of the rooms only to find that a candidate had walked off-screen. He was heard talking on his phone.
When the juror was called to return, they got no answer as his computer audio was being transmitted through a pair of headphones he wasn’t wearing, according to Law.com.
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Eventually, the individual returned, and another judge was able to dismiss around half of the eligible 26-person pool.
“For centuries, if you had jury duty, you have to go to the courthouse,” Senior Judge Keith Dean told Law.com. “In this case, the courthouse has come to you."
Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht said: “You can’t drag people down to the courthouse and make them sit together for days at a time. It’s just too dangerous.”
The one-day trial was a so-called summary jury trial, in which jurors hear a condensed version of a case and deliver a non-binding verdict, according to Reuters.
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The parties will now sit down for mediation and try to negotiate a settlement Tuesday, after seeing how their case could potentially fare before a jury in a normal fully-blown trial.
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