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Two Jury Trials Are Adjourned As COVID Cases Climb In County

Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks on Friday announced that jury selection throughout the state will stop Monday due to COVID-19. Two criminal jury trials in Chautauqua County Court that had been scheduled were recently adjourned. P-J file photo

Two criminal jury trials scheduled in Chautauqua County Court, which would have been the first since COVID-19 forced the closure of most court functions in New York state, have been adjourned.

And due to rising numbers of the coronavirus across the state, it doesn’t appear that trials will be permitted to commence anytime soon.

A county court clerk confirmed Friday that two trial dates, one that was scheduled to begin with jury selection this past Wednesday, and another Dec. 8 have both been adjourned; no new dates have been set.

Rodney Clyburn was set to go to trial this week, and would have marked the first case in the county to go before a jury since COVID-19 forced most court matters to be postponed across the state. Clyburn, being represented by attorney Kristy Woodfield, is facing charges of two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

The court clerk said several trials were lined up to begin this week, though the local court only handles one criminal case at a time, with the remaining moved to different dates.

The December trial was scheduled for Lamont Brown, who is facing charges of third-degree attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance, third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and second-degree criminal use of drug paraphernalia. Brown is being represented by attorney Joseph Calimeri.

The court clerk said Brown’s trial, scheduled to be heard before Judge Stephen Cass, was adjourned due to concerns over the recent increase in COVID-19 cases. As of Thursday, there were 1,277 confirmed cases in the county.

With the local adjournments, there won’t be a jury trial in the county until at least early 2021. Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks, in a memo released Friday, announced that jury selection throughout the state will stop Monday, though ongoing criminal and civil trials will continue to their conclusions.

He said no new grand jurors will be selected and future bench trials and hearings will be conducted by video until further notice.

New York resumed jury trials on Sept. 9 in counties outside of New York City after halting them statewide in March because of the pandemic. In the city, civil and criminal jury trials began again on Oct. 26.

New York has reported over 42,500 new coronavirus cases over the past two weeks.

The state is reporting an average of 3,850 new cases per day over the last week, more than double the daily average from two weeks ago.

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