OKLAHOMA CITY – All county courthouses in the state have been closed temporarily, with limited exceptions, in accordance with an emergency joint order issued Friday by the Oklahoma Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeals
Exceptions to the closure order are permissible only for emergencies. If emergency dockets are held, “no more than 10 persons, including the judge and court personnel, shall be in a courtroom at one time,” the joint order decrees.
If judges continue to hold hearings, “all of the mandated COVID-19 precautions issued by the (Centers for Disease Control) and all state and local governments shall be followed.”Further, judges “shall continue to use remote participation to the extent possible by use of telephone conferencing, video conferencing ... or other means.”
All district court jury terms are canceled through May 15.
In addition, “subject only to constitutional limitations,” all deadlines and procedures in any civil, juvenile or criminal case are suspended through May 15.
And the statute of limitations in any civil case is extended through May 15.
The mandate issued Friday was the second joint emergency order issued in11 days by Noma Gurich, Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, and David B. Lewis, Presiding Judge of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. It extends for another month timetables that were established ina previous joint order issued March 16.
The jurists’ prior joint order canceled jury terms in all district courts in Oklahoma through April 15, and all civil, criminal and juvenile jury trials were continued to the next available jury dockets. Additionally, the statute of limitations in civil cases was extended to April 15