City Of Gig Harbor: Gig Harbor Municipal Court Closed Until February 1

Gig Harbor WA

22 January, 2022

12:39 PM

Description

Press release from the City of Gig Harbor: January 21, 2022 Per Administrative Order 2002-02: The court office will be closed to the public from January 21, 2022 through January 31, 2022 and will be re-evaluated at that time. Court staff is available by telephone and via email at [email protected].  All civil infraction hearings will be conducted by telephone or video conferencing until further notice to address the ongoing threat to the public health.   All criminal matters will be conducted by telephone or video conferencing to the extent possible until further order of the Court. The Court reserves the right to maintain or schedule in-person hearings when video or telephonic methods are not possible.  All jury trials in Gig Harbor Municipal Court are suspended until February 28, 2022.  All jury trials currently scheduled in January and February shall be cancelled and calendared to February 23, 2022, for Readiness hearing.   The Court at that time will hear input from the parties concerning when the new jury trial date will be scheduled.  The combination of the increase in the spread of COVID-19 and the serious danger posed by COVID-19 are good cause to continue criminal trials and constitute an unavoidable circumstance under CrRLJ 3.3(e)(8).  Therefore, the time between the entry of the Emergency Administrative Order and the first court appearance after February 28, 2022, in Gig Harbor Municipal Court shall be excluded from calculation of time for trial.   This order may be amended or withdrawn as warranted to address the on-going public health emergency. This press release was produced by the City of Gig Harbor. The views expressed here are the author's own.