Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Fall 2020 - 27

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NEW WORLD DISORDER:
PRACTICING LAW DURING
THE COVID-19 COURT
SYSTEM SHUTDOWN
By Michael C. Wieder, Esquire,
and Raymond Edward Baker,
Esquire

uch like the rest of the Earth, the Berks County
criminal justice system has been stricken by the
COVID-19 pandemic. Disruptions in the court
system and furloughs of employees have affected everything from
meeting with victims and holding hearings to preparing and
executing formal arraignments. The reactions by participants has
been monumental and laudable.

System Shutdown
The first disruption came after the near complete shutdown
of the court system by President Judge Thomas J. Parisi in
compliance with the requirements of the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court. For weeks, only the most important court matters, per the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, have been handled. This comes
down to three matters: GAGNON II Hearings; Guilty Pleas
for time served offers; and addressing and releasing Defendants
on Unsecured Bail. Because of the work of the district attorney,
the courts, and the defense bar, hundreds of prisoners have been
released from Berks County Prison, reducing the total number
to 588. The release alleviated the pressure of the number of

occupants in the prison and helped to reduce and flatten the
COVID-19 curve in Berks County.
The district attorney's office, the criminal bench, and defense
bar have disposed of a large amount of cases since the beginning
of the crisis. In the first-ever DUI-ARD Disposition Day,
administered solely via video conference, 27 defendants were
placed into the program before lunch. While this is not a normal
disposition of cases (as a snapshot would have shown preCOVID) it has become the new normal for moving such cases
and should be celebrated.

Workforce Shake-Up

The second disruption came on March 31 when the county
furloughed hundreds of employees, including many members
of the District Attorney's Office and the Clerk of Courts. This
caused a slowdown in operations, as offices ran on bare-bones
staffing and many of the remaining staff temporarily took on new
roles. Many assistant district attorneys learned to become their
own office assistant and victim/witness coordinator. Those new
roles were in addition to their normal tasks of preparing trials,
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Fall 2020 | 27

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Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Fall 2020

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