Little Rock’s rising crime rate coupled with covid-related court delays has about tripled the caseload in Pulaski County Circuit Court over the past two years, forcing prosecutors and public defenders to struggle to keep up.
The recent infection spike driven by the rise of the omicron variant has forced the courts to delay jury trials scheduled for this month. That’s more than 100 trials in January pushed back in only one courtroom alone.
A court system equipped to take on about 5,000 criminal cases per year, mostly divided between three full-time criminal courts, is now dealing with almost three times that many because so few cases have been cleared since the pandemic began. Circuit Judge Leon Johnson, the circuit’s administrative judge who operates a 100 percent criminal court, said more delays are assured if the infection rate can’t be curtailed.
[CORONAVIRUS: Click here for our complete coverage » Terms of Use or contact us.
Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2022, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. All rights reserved.
Menu
