All trials scheduled for December in Westmoreland County will be postponed amid the rising number of coronavirus cases already diagnosed and the potential for a continued surge in the coming weeks.

Common Pleas Court President Judge Rita Hathaway said Wednesday that criminal trials slated to start next week will be pushed back to February. Those set to begin in late January for now remain on schedule.

“We’re just trying to take it one step at a time, and we’re playing it by ear,” Hathaway said. “We’re trying to cut down on the number of people coming to the courthouse right now.”

The decision to postpone trials came a day after officials said there were no plans to modify court functions even as coronavirus cases surged both in the county and among courthouse staffers. Judges on Monday and Tuesday conducted dozens of hearings to determine which cases were ready for trial this month.

Most court functions paused in late March during the early days of the pandemic and slowly resumed over the summer. Criminal jury trials, albeit it in a modified form, restarted in August with rearranged courtrooms to allow for social distancing and a change in the jury selection process that spread out potential panelists among various courthouse locations.

To allow for more spacing, jurors conducted deliberations in locked courtrooms rather than being discharged back to a smaller room where those discussions previously occurred before the pandemic.

Civil trials were conducted in September and November. None are scheduled for December.

Hathaway said she expects civil trials to resume in mid-January. The next weeklong criminal trial term is scheduled to begin Jan. 25.

Meanwhile, Hathaway said judges have been advised to continue hearing cases but to do so by video or phone when possible. The judge issued another court order Wednesday halting the transfer of jail inmates to the courthouse or to local district judge offices for hearings through the end of December.

The county has over the last several months upgraded its technology in the courtrooms to allow for remote hearings.

“We don’t want to revert back to what we did at the beginning of the pandemic,” Hathaway said.

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