Story By WBTV Web Staff | March 13, 2020 at 12:14 PM EDT
Tim Emry is an attorney who is frequently inside the courthouse. He says all week he’s been thinking about the possible spread of COVID-19.
“Courtroom 1130 is like a big giant movie theater, there’s 100 people in there everyday, two times a day,” he said.
He says a lot of people who are summoned to court rooms are already higher at risk to get the virus, so he believes it’s the right decision to adapt the court schedule.
“A lot of my clients are people who don’t have regular access to clean conditions. That’s the vulnerable population. That’s the people in the court house everyday,” he said.
The courts are just one piece of the overall criminal justice system in Mecklenburg County. There’s still the question of what happens if an infected person gets arrested.
“It’s scary. When anyone new is admitted to that jail, the possibility is they might be infected and not know it yet.”
The state is taking measures to stop the spread of the virus in jails and prisons in the state by limiting or restricting visitors to inmates altogether.
MAR
2020