Despite Constitutional speedy trial guarantees, most jury trials in Texas have been on hold for roughly a year now, with no light at the end of the tunnel.

Some grand jurors have expressed concern about being required to meet in person given the local COVID-19 situation.

Citing misleading prosecutorial tactics and inadequate defense by his lawyers, several of the jurors who issued a death sentence for Brandon Bernard are now supporting his petition to that sentence to life in prison with no possibility of release.

The most common response to the surge in COVID cases reported to Bloomberg Law by judges and court administrators across the United States is halting trials by jury.

15 positive COVID-19 tests (2 jurors, 5 staff, 8 people with the plaintiffs and defense teams) trace back to an in-person jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Sherman, TX.