Jury trials have largely been on hold during the pandemic as the 21st Judicial District Court seeks potential venues for spacing concerns.
Chief Judge Grant Bannister informed Riley County commissioners Monday one option for jury selection and subsequent trials that follow, could be the nearby Wareham Opera House.
“On our higher level criminal felonies, we need to seat 39 people and we need to have usually a dozen or two dozen, sometimes three dozen backups based upon people we’ll excuse either for cause or other challenges and then have to back fill with them. So it’s a pretty large number that just doesn’t fit in our courtrooms, even in good times,” he said.
The district court had previously been using the Rock Hills Church for jury trials since late 2020.
“I think we can get back into our courtrooms for the trial itself after we whittle down to the 12 jurors or 12 plus an alternate or two as needed. Our current facility is not adequate,” he said.
Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson tells KMAN the upcoming Bob Iacobellis sex abuse trial, scheduled for June 10, is likely to get postponed to later in the year, most likely in the fall. Iacobellis faces over two dozen charges against three minors.
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