Hamilton County General Sessions court's criminal division will be closed as of Dec. 18 and will hear only specific in-custody cases due to court personnel testing positive for COVID-19, according to a news release.
General Sessions - the court in which many criminal defendants make their first appearance if they have not been criminally indicted - will re-open on Jan. 4, but many cases will be reset for March or later.
For example, cases involving defendants who have been released from jail on bond are being rescheduled for March or later, the news release states. And hearings set for January or February will be reset for March or later. Cases involving multiple defendants will also be rescheduled unless the defense objects.
"We're already rescheduling thousands of cases," Judge Gary Starnes said. "We're operating at less than 45%" due to the restrictions set by the Tennessee Supreme Court in an effort to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus within the judicial system.
Judges will continue hearing jail and in-custody cases, according to the news release. For defendants who are incarcerated, preliminary hearings will be held on Dec. 21 and 28 beginning at 8:30 a.m.
The clerks office, however, will not be closing, Criminal Court Clerk Vince Dean said. His office had not been contacted by General Sessions judges to notify them of the plans for closure as of Monday afternoon.
Hamilton County Criminal Court will continue to operate under its regular holiday schedule, Criminal Court Judge Tom Greenholtz said. Most of Criminal Court's proceedings have been virtual, though trials are suspended at least until Jan. 31, according to the latest state Supreme Court order.
The decision to close General Sessions court comes as hospitals across the region have neared critical care capacity and the county has seen some of its deadliest days since the pandemic began.
The increase in cases is a reflection of the effects of Thanksgiving gatherings as hospitalization totals are breaking records and deaths are spiking, the Times Free Press reported previously.
Just this month, intensive care beds in the city of Athens in McMinn County, Tennessee, hit 100% occupancy and the city of Cleveland in Bradley County reached 99% occupancy. Similarly, the 10-county North Georgia Health District reported being at 97% capacity.
Three weeks ago, the Times Free Press reported that possible COVID-19 exposures at county courthouses had been reported by the county health department at least three times, two of which took place just last month. And at least one prosecutor had been seen multiple times on different occasions either intermittently taking his mask off or lowering it, not wearing a mask at all or wearing one only below the chin while in the courtroom and at least once before a judge.
At the time, the Hamilton County District Attorney's office said it received one complaint about the prosecutor.
It's not clear to which departments the court personnel who tested positive and triggered the closure belong to or how many have tested positive.
The public defender's office said none of its personnel had tested positive as of Monday.
Citing federal health privacy laws, the DA's office declined to confirm or deny whether any of its personnel tested positive. Under those laws, even with entities to which the law applies, information that does not reveal the identity of the individual can be released.
Contact Rosana Hughes at 423-757-6327, rhughes@timesfreepress.com or follow her on Twitter @HughesRosana.