CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nueces County officials and district court judges are preparing to make changes in order to keep their courts and the community safe during the coronavirus pandemic.
This morning, several district court judges met with County Judge Barbara Canales to map out plans.
They decided to postpone criminal cases involving defendants in the jail for four week and eight weeks for defendants who are out on bond. They also decided to postpone civil jury trial and family law cases until May 25.
In the cases of parents who share custody of their children, the Judges have ordered those families to abide by their children's published school calendar. If a non-custodial parent had child during the Spring Break period, they should have returned that child to their custodial parent at the end of the school's posted Spring Break.
Meanwhile, county officials are also considering not bringing Nueces County Jail inmates into the courthouse. Instead, they would appear in court via "remote benching," which allows a judge to communicate with a defendant via video conference.
"If we're telling people to avoid each other, the last thing we want is to make them congregate here," Canales said.
Meanwhile, Nueces County is planning to begin daily informational briefings starting tomorrow.
Final details regarding those are pending.
