While the San Diego criminal courts have “re-opened” after being closed from March 17th through May 25th, the buildings are still almost completely shut to the public and lawyers.
Many cases are on hold, but, some are being dealt with using video appearances. The prosecutor, defense attorney, defendant in jail, or at their attorney’s office and the Judge all get together through a Microsoft Teams meeting.
For people looking to hire a lawyer to handle a new case or one of the many cases that had court dates disappear because of the court closure, there are two key factors to keep in mind when choosing a lawyer.
One, make sure your lawyer is equipped and trained on making these virtual appearances. Most matters are currently being handled by the Public Defenders. Only a few private attorneys are making appearances now. Court can get frustrating for everyone involved when it is running normally. That’s bad. Frustrated Judges and prosecutors can lead to trouble for defendants. Even before the courts re-opened, we here at San Diego Defenders became very adept at using the video system and set up our office so if need be, our client’s can appear here in our office with full social distancing and other safety measures in place.
We actually just resolved a case in the last week and the results were great for our client because we moved so quickly and knew how to operate in the current system. Forms that used to be hand-delivered to the court now are scanned and emailed. In some cases, the lawyer and the prosecutor can agree to what will happen and the defendant never even has to appear on the video.
Too many people will be tempted to just wait and see what happens with their case. That is a bad idea for three reasons. First, that could mean a warrant eventually being issued and getting arrested and taken to jail. Nobody wants to be incarcerated during a pandemic. Jail is the perfect place to get infected. Second, with the huge backlog of cases that have built up because of the shutdown, sooner may be much better than later to try and cut a deal. Third, simply having a case hanging over your head can be stressful and cause anxiety that you simply do not need to be dealing with, especially with how crazy everything is now.
So, if you have a criminal case, whether it is a DUI, domestic violence case, or any other criminal matter, you are better off hiring the right lawyer sooner rather than later.
