BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – To make up for the cancelled May grand jury, Raleigh County will begin next week with double the amount on the docket.
For social distancing purposes, they will be using the old courtroom in the courthouse to give grand jurors and law enforcement officers plenty of room to space out during proceedings.
Also one of the major changes for this session is that indictments will be decided on and made public each day rather than all at once at the end.
Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Kristen Keller says this will hopefully cut back on COVID-19 concerns if a grand juror were to come down with symptoms or test positive.
“If a grand juror had a family who tested positive or had any health issues, that grand juror could be excused, and we could bring in an alternate without having to redo all of the work we had done before that grand juror was excused, so it’s a whole new procedure,” she said.
They have the ceremonial courtroom booked from the September 14 to 25 and all county officials and members of the bar have received memos.
