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Jury trials have proven to be the most challenging parts of the justice system in the age of COVID-19.\\xa0

The Court of Appeal has been conducting appeals using Zoom. The Provincial Court has been conducting sentencing and judicial interim release hearings by telephone conference. Both the Provincial Court, and the Supreme Court, have been utilizing video connections for witnesses, and relatively simple modifications to courtrooms have permitted safe in-person trials to resume.

The challenge for jury trials starts with the process of selecting juries.\\xa0

Prior to COVID-19, hundreds of potential jurors would attend the courthouse and several juries would be selected from this jury pool. Such a process would no longer be safe.\\xa0

The process contemplated by a recent practice directive will divide the jury selection process into two parts. On one day the names of potential jurors will be drawn at random. On a second day, contemplated to be a Saturday so as to minimize the number of people at the courthouse, the potential juror whose names were drawn will be required to attend in small groups, at staggered times.\\xa0

Juries will be selected from the smaller groups and once all of the jury spots have been filled, prospective jurors in later groups will be advised they do not need to attend the courthouse.

The next issue to be solved is safety during the course of a trial. This will involve modification to courtrooms, by way of physical separation or plexiglass barriers. Where this cannot be achieved, given the physical limitations of courtrooms, other facilities such as theatres, hotel meeting rooms, or university lecture facilities will be utilized. Many of these facilities are not otherwise in use due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The final physical requirement for the resumption of jury trials is the need for a sufficiently large room for jury deliberations. Ideally, this would include private bathroom facilities. Juries need to be able to deliberate privately while ensuring sufficient separation for all of the members of the jury.

The direction from the British Columbia Supreme Court is that jury trials will recommence on September 8th.\\xa0 This mandate is requiring an assessment of what physical modifications will be possible in existing courtrooms so as to determine whether jury trials will need to move into alternative venues.

Also discussed on the show is a recent case dealing with the time period police are permitted to keep evidence, without a charge be approved.

Finally, a court case involving an application for a cannabis sales licence is discussed. While the licence needs to be issued by a provincial government agency, that process cannot proceed unless the municipality in which the store would be located submits a report. In the case of an application for a licence in Sidney, the municipality did not file the required report at all. The lack of a report from the municipality stopped the licence application altogether. On a review in court, Sidney was ordered to submit the required report, so that the licence application could proceed.

Follow this link for a transcript of the episode and links to the cases discussed.\\xa0