BOISE, Idaho — The top justice for Idaho Supreme Court said in a Wednesday address to the Idaho Legislature that the state's judicial branch is working hard to address challenges to the criminal and civil court system posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has curtailed jury trials and halted or limited many in-person courthouse services.
Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice G. Richard Bevan, who took the helm Jan. 1, spoke as part of the annual State of the Judiciary address.
Bevan praised the state's court clerks, judges and other court staff who have worked to transition to remote hearings in order to keep cases moving forward.
"Unfortunately, the Idaho courts have been unable to eliminate all negative impacts caused by the pandemic. There are some proceedings which can only occur in person," he said. "For those proceedings, courts have had to weigh competing interests and make very difficult decisions."
Bevan said courts are having to look daily at the risks of bringing people together physically for hearings, as well as weigh the local incidence rate of coronavirus, the size and ventilation of courtrooms, and the effect delaying a case over and over has on the people who are involved.
Statewide, the number of filings in criminal and civil cases has dropped by 10%, while the number of cases closed fell by 21%, the justice noted. By contrast, the number of pending criminal cases has gone up by 22%, with more than 40,000 cases total across the state awaiting disposition.
"We are not only working to recognize the scope of what faces us, we are conscientiously developing strategies to address this backlog. Already we are utilizing senior and active judges to mediate cases in an effort to reduce the number of pending cases and trials," Bevan said. "When possible we have provided technology to judges and court staff so that they can work remotely when they are prevented from working in the office or traveling to another courthouse."
The caseload is particularly severe in Canyon County, Bevan said, where magistrate judges were juggling an average of 1,817 case filings per year in 2019, before the pandemic began. He told the Idaho Legislature he is requesting two more magistrate judges and a district judge to be added in Canyon County.
"Simply put, even before there was a backlog of cases there was a shortage of judicial resources in the Third Judicial District," he said. "It is now even more essential that we provide adequate judicial resources to the district so that cases can be tried when necessary and resolved as quickly as possible."
Bevan noted that court staff across Idaho has not solely been grappling with pandemic-related problems, pointing to the judiciary's increased involvement in the Idaho Behavioral Health Council, the adoption of best practice standards for the state's treatment courts, and the streamlining of data and evaluation on the Supreme Court level.
The justice said that he hoped to increase access and transparency across the court system by incorporating the ideas necessitated by COVID-19 - such as online filings and appearing in court via livestream - into options permanently available to the public, even after the virus is under control and courtrooms reopen for in-person appearances.
"I continue to hold that vision of the importance of the judicial branch and the courts in the lives of many, and of our ability to make a real difference through our service," he said. "I serve with incredibly capable people. And it is our goal to serve the cause of justice and to continue to make a difference with the work that we do every day. Thus it is my vision and hope, that in coming years we will continue to see our citizens' ability to access the court increase."
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