Jury Trials Headed to Church for Social Distancing
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District Judge Jeff Steinhauser (far left) asked Fayette County Commissioners last week to designate a few alternate locations for district court proceedings. Steinhauser said the historic district courtroom, pictured above, cannot accommodate jury trials under social distancing rules issued by the State. Photo by Andy Behlen
At a meeting last Wednesday, Fayette County Commissioners roughed out a plan to declare the old La Grange First Baptist Church as a district court auxiliary branch location.
The designation will allow District Judge Jeff Steinhauser to hold jury trials at the former church sanctuary. The County will rent the property on a month-to-month basis for $1,800 a month with utilities and cleaning included.
The Fayette County District Court has been unable to hold many court proceedings in the historic courtroom due to social distancing guidelines issued by the Texas Office of Court Administration in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The Court has held some hearings via video conference. But jury trials and other proceedings requiring large groups of people have not taken place in months.
The State said jury trials could begin after Feb. 1, 2021, as long as the proceedings take place in a location large enough to accommodate social distancing requirements.
La Grange First Baptist moved to its new location on State Highway 71 west of La Grange earlier this year and put its old sanctuary on East Travis Street up for sale. Steinhauser said the First Baptist’s old sanctuary would provide adequate room to hold jury trials.
Steinhauser told the commissioners that he regretted that the move would require additional expense.
“I have spent hours trying to figure out how to do a jury trial in (the district courtroom),” Steinhauser told the commissioners. “But there’s just no way, with the bathrooms, size of the jury room, social distancing requirement in jury selection, all of those various things we have to operate under.”
Jury selection proceedings will take place at larger facilities such as the La Grange KC Hall or the Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall, which are the only facilities located in the county seat that can accommodate 100 to 150 people spaced six feet apart. The actual trials would take place at the old First Baptist location.
“We have some cases where people are in jail and we need to give them their day in court,” Steinhauser said.
“Civil cases I’m not as concerned with, quite frankly, because that’s not people’s lives – victims that need their day in court and criminal defendants who need their day in court.
By law, criminal cases take precedence over civil cases anyway,” Steinhauser added.
Assistant County Attorney Blake Watson said the County still needs to reach an agreement with First Baptist involving notification and time to vacate the property if it were to sell. Steinhauser said he did not expect the property to sell quickly due to the small real estate market for church properties.
“If it does, we’ll have to figure something else out at that time,” he said.
Commissioners voted unanimously to give County Judge Joe Weber authority to sign a month-to-month lease with La Grange First Baptist Church once Watson finalizes the agreement.
They deferred action on a vote to designate the old First Baptist sanctuary, the La Grange KC Hall and the Fayette County Fairgrounds as auxiliary branch locations for the district court. Watson said he needed a little more time to draft the declaration, which he said would be ready by the Commissioners’ Dec. 10 meeting.