Courtesy Photo Judge Aaron Gauthier, of Presque Isle County’s 53rd Circuit Court, participates in the workgroup he co-chairs to study the use of technology in bringing jury trials back to Michigan.

ALPENA — A jury box used to mean a space with 12 chairs in the front of a courtroom.

Now — with courtroom rituals rattled by a virus — a jury box may well mean a square on a computer screen as jurors play their part in the American judicial system by way of their home computer.

Dissatisfied with jury trials that aren’t happening, a group of more than 60 attorneys, clerks, victim rights advocates, and other key courtroom participants from around the state — with a northern Michigan judge at its helm — is putting technology on trial to see if virtual courtrooms have what it takes to open their digital doors to a jury.

Trials by jury, guaranteed as a right to criminal defendants, were suspended in Michigan until at least June 22 by the State Court Administrative Office as part of the court system’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

As of Wednesday, 123 Northeast Michigan residents have tested positive for the virus, including 94 Alpena County residents, 12 Alcona County residents, five Montmorency County residents, and 11 Presque Isle County residents.

A total of 78 residents have recovered from the virus, including all five Montmorency County residents who were infected, 61 Alpena County residents, 10 Presque Isle County residents, and two Alcona County residents.

Arraignments, sentencings, and other hearings have been held virtually in local circuit, district, and family courts, participants appearing via phone or videoconference software.

Jury trials, with their higher concentration of participants and careful rules meant to protect justice, have been put on the back burner, however.

Multiple scheduled jury trials in Northeast Michigan, some for accused sex offenders, others addressing drug charges, break-ins, or other alleged crimes, have been postponed indefinitely since mid-March, when coronavirus-related precautions caused the Michigan Supreme Court to order all courtrooms to severely restrict in-courtroom participation.

Now, defendants, attorneys, and victims wait, unable to reach resolution because large gatherings — such as that required by the traditional jury selection process — are deemed unsafe.

Waiting until the virus is gone to resume trials is not an option, according to Judge Aaron Gauther, of Presque Isle County’s 53rd Circuit Court.

One of the co-chairs of Michigan’s Remote Jury Trial Pilot Workgroup — Judge Carl Marlinga, of Macomb County, is the other — Gauthier has led a group of volunteer jurors through a mock jury trial, entirely online, to find out how technology could be used to get jury trials throughout the state up and running again.

Though the state has reopened some businesses, courts can’t just fling open their doors for in-person jury trials, Gauthier cautioned.

It’s one thing to choose to go to a restaurant or concert, he said, and quite another to be ordered, on threat of contempt of court, to join a large, indoor group.

Other states have already ventured into the realm of virtual jury trials. Courts in Missouri and Arizona have piloted a mix of in-person and remote jury trials. Last week, a Dallas, Texas court conducted a summary trial — a one-day, confidential civil proceeding with a non-binding verdict — the first jury trial held remotely in the country’s history.

Michigan courts have to provide a way to conduct jury trials that upholds rights while keeping participants safe — a conviction Gauthier said lies behind the work of the remote jury trial workgroup.

In recent days, 40 volunteer jurors showed up virtually for duty. Muted, their cameras off, they watched and listened on their phones and computers as real attorneys and a judge gave opening comments, just as would happen at an in-person criminal trial.

One by one, as their numbers were called, jurors’ cameras were turned on and they appeared in the jury box, until a full jury was seated, albeit in couches, recliners, and dining room chairs.

A few days later, on Friday, an abbreviated trial of a mock felony assault allowed attorneys to present witnesses, introduce evidence, and have private conversations with their clients, all in front of a jury watching remotely from their homes.

Landmines were purposefully planted to imitate real-life situations, from jurors with glitchy speakers to background disruptions in their homes upsetting the flow of court, Gauthier reported.

This week, the mock jury will deliberate the case and render their verdict, and then the workgroup, which has been watching and discussing the trial, will put their remote heads together to create a set of standards and best practices that — after a few real-court pilot trials in June — can be offered to courts statewide.

While Michigan’s mock jury trial — which has garnered mentions in the New York Times and Wired Magazine — is centered on a felony case, remote jury trials probably won’t be implemented for criminal cases, Gauthier predicted.

The right to confront one’s accuser, among other concerns, makes a criminal trial a far reach even for technology, which is more likely to be used in civil trials.

Criminal trial jury selection, however, is a very viable use for videoconferencing technology like the Zoom platform widely used in Michigan courts, he added.

While many courtrooms may be reconfigured for the trial itself, with a minimum number of participants spread out for safety’s sake, jury selection often requires 50 to 150 people to be shoulder-to-shoulder — a situation that could be changed to fit pandemic-wrought safety guidelines by the use of technology.

In rural counties, such as those of Northeast Michigan, not everyone has access to the internet, or to a computer or smartphone to let them participate on a jury remotely. For such cases, computer stations with internet access can be set up in a safe place, preventing the creation of a jury in which only those with technology access can serve, Gauthier said.

There’s plenty of healthy skepticism about the ability of courts to conduct jury trials remotely, both among the general public and within law circles, Gauthier said. Those voices of skepticism are also present in the workgroup, rooting out potential pitfalls and raising questions about technology’s place in the pursuit of justice.

There aren’t easy answers, but, coronavirus or no, the right to a trial by jury must be upheld, Gauthier said.

“It’s not good enough to say, ‘This problem is too hard to solve,'” the judge said. “We’ve got to figure it out.”

News Staff Writer Meakalia Previch-Liu contributed to this report. Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.