BLAIR COUNTY/CLEARFIELD COUNTY, Pa — The coronavirus wreaked havoc on many elements of our society...and that includes the court system.
The backlog of cases from COVID tested Pennsylvania Rule 600...the right to a speedy trial...in a time when trials weren’t happening.
The prosecution has 180 days to bring incarcerated defendants to trial, and 365 days for those not incarcerated...but the backlog of cases is making that difficult.
Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks says there are some serious penalties for missing that timeline.
“The remedy for a Rule 600 violation, if it’s a 365-day violation, is dismissal potentially but the remedy for a 180-day violation where someone is incarcerated is the release of that person from incarceration,” he explained.
Rule 600 was temporarily suspended by judicial order early during COVID...but once that order was lifted, the clocks for all the cases that built up started simultaneously.
Published reports say that Elk County struggled to keep up, and they weren’t alone.
“It was an absolute mess," Clearfield County District Attorney Ryan Sayers recalled. "Whenever you’re looking at a county, I mean we’re a smaller county, we have between 1,300-1,400 cases a year, so ten weeks, three months, potentially of cases that are sitting.”
Weeks says Blair County is still reeling from this issue.
“The COVID shutdown of the courts, along with the backlog that already existed in Blair County, have made things extremely difficult,” he stated.
He says he has no idea how long it’ll take to catch up with the backlog, but he says getting to those in custody first and beating the faster clock is paramount.
“We’re going to continue to keep pushing for incarcerated defendants to be prioritized because I believe that’s what both the constitution and the law contemplate,” Weeks said.
Fortunately in Clearfield, Sayers says that backlog has been resolved.
“Everything is back to normal. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we have a heck of a case load here to deal with, but it’s not COVID-related,” he shared.
Fortunately, both DA’s say that as of now, they have not missed a case because of Rule 600 on account of COVID.
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