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SALT LAKE CITY —The Constitution guarantees people the right to a speedy trial, so when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Utah's courthouses, they were forced to adapt to move criminal cases forward.
The solution — holding hearings remotely — led to a permanent change in the court system and Utah's courts are now working to implement best practices and install kiosks to help people attend remote hearings.
Ron Gordon, who is the administrator for Utah's courts, said at the time there was not really technology available to hold a secure online hearing. But after a few months, that changed and the courts began to use Cisco's WebEx online video conferencing to help cases move forward again.
"Early on, it was the primary thing that allowed us to continue to provide service as a core system. (Online hearings) were absolutely critical," Gordon said.
Judges and staff worked very hard to implement virtual hearings, and court staff members were given new responsibilities to help with the process.
Over time, Gordon said the courts have learned there are advantages to being able to hold hearings remotely. It allows more people to participate in hearings who were prevented before because of distance or travel constraints, the need to work, or child care responsibilities.
Now, some of these concerns can be alleviated for victims, witnesses, attorneys, the public and sometimes judges allowing hearings to move forward when they previously would have been rescheduled or set for later dates. It also reduces the need to transport prisoners to the courthouse, when jails and prisons can facilitate attending remotely.
Gordon said allowing remote hearings can also give individuals in rural areas of Utah more options for attorneys, since attorneys can provide most of the needed legal representation remotely and will not need to travel to the courthouse as frequently, if at all.
In order to allow people to participate in online hearings more easily, the courts are working to install 50 kiosks in courthouses and public buildings throughout the state, including in rural courthouses. The kiosks are designed to allow people to participate in virtual hearings if they do not have reliable internet or hardware required to attend at their home.
Gordon said the idea is to create a private space in a public area where the technology is accessible and intuitive.
Introducing remote hearings
Before 2020, telephone hearings were sometimes held in Utah's courts, but those were primarily used for scheduling hearings. A judge could allow a telephone hearing if an attorney requested it, but its uses were limited.
Gordon said video hearings likely never happened before the pandemic because technology was not available to allow secure virtual hearings.
As WebEx was implemented, however, it was not without hiccups. At first, a judge would need to continually remind people to mute and explain how participants can show their video or unmute. Sometimes hearings had to be delayed simply because of technical difficulties getting logged in, speaking or sharing a video.
"There were some implementation struggles initially as it was different for everybody. It was different for judges. It was different for our staff. It was different for attorneys and patrons. So there was a bit of a learning curve for everybody involved because we had to move so quickly," Gordon said.
If there had been an option to introduce the system gradually, it could have gone more smoothly, he said. But as people began to be familiar with WebEx, the benefits of remote hearings became even more clear.
Gordon said the Utah Judicial Council realized there are benefits to virtual hearings, but also situations when it is in everyone's best interest to hold a hearing in person, particularly if it is a hearing where testimony is being offered and a witness is questioned by attorneys, like a preliminary hearing or jury trial.
"Judges are realizing that sometimes they need to have the parties in the courtroom in front of them," Gordon said. "It might be dependent on the very specific nature of an individual hearing or an individual case."
He said it is different for judges to talk to someone through a screen, and sometimes a judge would prefer to convey information in person, for example during a sentencing in a criminal case. Because of this, the Utah Judicial Council determined it was important to give a judge discretion for whether a hearing is in person or online, rather than making general rules.
Gordon said Utah courts have accepted that virtual hearings are here to stay, but are still working through how they will be best used.
The Green Phase Working Group was established and tasked with creating a report. It found that Utah's court users overwhelmingly prefer continuing online hearings and worked to identify benefits and drawbacks.
From that report, the Utah Judicial Council issued a 10-page report last month with recommendations for ongoing online hearings. Gordon said they did their best to ensure everyone involved had an opportunity to comment on the report.
Some of those recommendations include:
- Requiring people attending remotely to have sufficient technology to create a clear record of court proceedings.
- Remote attendees need to observe courtroom decorum and appear from a location that is not disruptive.
- All remote participants should have the same ability to hear and see as people in the courtroom.
- Judges have the discretion to determine whether a hearing will be held in person or virtually.
- Courts should invest in information technology staff.
The document also lists questions judges should consider when determining whether to allow a hearing to be remote or in person.
Gordon said there is not data available at this point to show whether allowing virtual hearings are able to help cases move through the system faster, and that likely this could depend on the individual case.
For people seeking to attend hearings, it can currently be hard to figure out whether the hearing will be in person or online, and Gordon said the courts are working on a more uniform solution as judges and courts work through balancing in-person and online hearings differently.
One of the best practices recommended by the Utah Judicial Council is that court calendars should clearly indicate whether a hearing will be held in person, virtual or hybrid and provide a link to the virtual hearing when it is public.
