What is a superior court clerk? Superior court clerks have been around since the inception of the State of Georgia. "Clerk of Court" is one of four elected county offices created by the Georgia Constitution. Each of Georgia’s 159 counties has one. Clerks are the official record keepers of the county—they receive and maintain criminal and civil court filings and serve as custodian of county land and property records.
Click to read Chief Justice Melton’s Sixth Order Extending Declaration of Statewide Judicial Emergency and the related press release. This order authorizes the Chief Judge of each superior court, in his or her discretion after consultation with the District Attorney, to resume grand jury proceedings as local conditions allow and in accordance with this order. The order further directs each county to establish a local committee of judicial system participants to develop detailed guidelines for the resumption of jury trials in the county utilizing the safe jury trial guidelines being developed by the Task Force. It is anticipated that the next extension order on or about October 10 will authorize superior and state courts, in their discretion, to resume jury trials as local conditions allow.
Courts in Georgia have continued to perform essential functions despite the pandemic. In an effort to return to more robust court operations, many of the deadlines imposed by law on litigants in civil and criminal cases that had been suspended, tolled, or extended since the initial March 14 Order were reimposed as of July 14, allowing more pending and newly filed cases to move forward in the judicial process. However, given the current levels of COVID-19 around the state, this order continues the prohibition on all jury proceedings. This broad prohibition cannot last too much longer, even if the pandemic continues, because the judicial system, and the criminal justice system in particular, must have some capacity to resolve cases by indictment and trial. Accordingly, the Judicial COVID-19 Task Force is focusing on how grand jury and jury trial proceedings could safely be conducted even where levels of COVID-19 are high, including the possibility of conducting grand jury proceedings and jury selection remotely.
The judicial emergency order is continued until Aug. 11, 2020 and there is a continued prohibition on both jury and grand jury trials with limited exception for previously impaneled grand juries. There is some tightening of the language regarding precautions that are recommended by substituting ‘shall’ for ‘should’ in a some sections. Click the title above to read the order.
Click the title above to read the order. Tolling of cases begins but will be rolled out gradually to lessen the impact on what will be very crowded calendars. Also, the prohibition on jury trials continues which also focuses tolling on the earlier stages of a case. Here is the paragraph that speaks to juries: As directed by the May 11 extension order, the Judicial Covid-19 Task Force is developing policies, procedures, and templates to allow the safe resumption of jury trials and grand jury proceedings. These materials should be available in July 2020, but it is unlikely that any jury proceedings will begin until August or later.