Pandemic response sets Grand Forks-area court schedule back at least eight months Monday, March 30, 2020
G.F. Herald
The criminal jury trial calendar in the Northeast Central Judicial District has been set back eight to 12 months, and the civil case calendar has been set back "well over a year," according to presiding Judge Donald Hager.
Criminal jury trials were suspended earlier this month by the North Dakota Supreme Court as part of a declaration of a judicial state of emergency in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Days later, the Northeast Central Judicial District rescheduled all non-emergency court appearances to after May 4, the beginning of the district's new five-week court rotation.
Hager said that as existing cases are pushed months down the line, all new cases have to be scheduled even further out.