Marilyn Castle, Chief Judge of the 15th Judicial District Court covering Lafayette, Acadia, and Vermilion Parishes, joined Jan Swift on Discover Lafayette to discuss how the operations of the courthouse have been impacted due to the pandemic shutdown.

Judge Castle received her Juris Doctorate from LSU in 1976 and then served early in her career as an Assistant DA. From 1979 until her election to the bench in November 1998, her practice focused primarily in the areas of business and commercial litigation. She has served as President of the Lafayette Parish Bar Association and is active in her community both in her church at Asbury United Methodist Church and the Bonaparte Mardi Gras Krewe.

No stranger to leading during times of crisis, Judge Castle also served as Chief Judge during 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The pandemic, however, has altered operations in the courthouse in ways no one has ever experienced and which called for unparalleled crisis management.

Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark Garber took swift steps to close off the jail facility from outside traffic in his effort to keep the prisoners safe from the coronavirus, which actions have prevented an outbreak in the jail. Any new arrestees are put under a fourteen-day quarantine. No inmates have left the facility to appear in court, and the number of visitors going into the jail has been extremely limited. Most "court" appearances by prisoners have been conducted by video conference, although under Lousiana law some appearances, such as sentencing, must be conducted in person. Glass partitions separate the prisoners from visitors such as Judge Castle, and all visitors have to have their temperature checked before entering. Prisoners are separated in smaller numbers into pods to cut down exposure from the greater population.

From March 16, 2020 until the courthouse reopened for general business on May 18, 2020, all hearings were conducted by video, except for emergency hearings involving juvenile matters or for people seeking protective orders. Staff worked from home, and there were no in-court, in-person proceedings except for the emergency matters mentioned herein.

A large number of criminal court appearances such as pre-trial matters, criminal trials, and rules originally scheduled to take place during the shutdown were missed, and people whose hearings were postponed are now mandated to go to the courthouse to receive "re-service of their summons" to obtain their new date of criminal hearing, as outlined in the 15TH JDC Phase 1 Order. Based upon the alphabet according to the individual's last name, the dates to visit the courthouse for this mandated re-service are as follows: A - I: Tuesday, May 26; J - Q: Wednesday, May 27; and R - Z: Thursday, May 28. Large tents will be set up on the E. Main side of the courthouse and people will be directed to the service desk by a bailiff. People who fail to show up can expect a sheriff's deputy at their door with a bench warrant for their arrest.

People whose criminal hearings were postponed are now mandated to go to the courthouse to receive "re-service of their summons" to obtain a new date for their criminal hearing, as outlined in the 15TH JDC Phase 1 Order. Pictured: Chief Judge Marilyn C. Castle speaking at City Hall. Wednesday, May 13, 2020. (Photo: SCOTT CLAUSE/USA TODAY Network)

Most of the civil trials that were scheduled during the shutdown have been reset for later this year. The majority of cases heard by the court are criminal in nature and the judges are having to work out how juries will be selected and how they will accommodate the spacing issues involved. Only a few courtrooms have a large enough capacity to seat jurors six feet apart, and the size of jury pools will be limited; people called f...