Georgia Chief Justice: Virtual hearings here to stay

ATLANTA - The head of Georgia’s highest court said Tuesday virtual court hearings during the pandemic have saved time and money and will continue after the COVID-19 crisis passes.

State Supreme Court Chief Justice David Nahmias made the comments during his "State of the Judiciary" address at the Georgia Capitol.

He also said state courts are facing a huge backlog of cases as a result of the pandemic. The backlog is particularly acute for serious criminal cases that are the most likely to go to trial, including many gang-related cases.

To help address the problem, the state will use more than $100 million in federal funds to expand capacity. Nahmias said more counties need to step up and contribute some of the federal funds they’ve received to the effort.

He also noted one good outcome of the pandemic: Judges, who are usually slow to adopt new technology, have been forced to embrace it. Nahmias said almost every court in the state has used video conferencing for proceedings, and many of those virtual hearings "can and should be part of the judicial system’s new normal when COVID becomes just a memory."

"Virtual proceedings are one of the lessons learned from the pandemic that will be used long after it dissipates," he said.

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