<p>INDIANAPOLIS — Federal jury trials suspended last fall amid a surge in coronavirus cases are expected to resume in April in all divisions of the Southern District of Indiana, a judge announced Friday.</p>
<p>Chief Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson said the court anticipates in-person jury trials to resume April 5 in all divisions of the U.S. District Court Southern District of Indiana, which has courts in Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Evansville and New Albany.</p>
<p>Magnus-Stinson also said that clerk offices will reopen Tuesday to the public in all of the divisions. </p>
<p>The Southern District had <a href="https://apnews.com/article/indianapolis-trials-coronavirus-pandemic-courts-indiana-b720c287f75957aba6b84982400f8477#:~:text=INDIANAPOLIS%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20Federal%20jury,by%20Chief%20Judge%20Jane%20E.&text=But%20COVID%2D19%20restrictions%20imposed,previous%20orders%20remain%20in%20effect.">suspended jury trials in November </a> after Gov. Eric Holcomb reinstated limits on crowd sizes for nearly every Indiana county in response to weeks of sharp increases in Indiana’s COVID-19 hospitalizations and new infections.</p>
<p>Indiana’s rates of new COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths have declined steeply since peaking in early December.</p>
<p>The resumption of jury trials does not preclude a judge from continuing a jury trial for reasons related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Magnus-Stinson said in a statement.</p>
<p>She said court clerks may temporarily excuse any person summoned for jury service “upon a showing of undue hardship or extreme inconvenience." But that person will either be summoned later for jury service or returned to a pool from which names are randomly selected for jury duty.</p>
<p>The Southern District has created a <a href="https://www.insd.uscourts.gov/coronavirus-disease-covid-19">page on its website</a> that contains all of its orders, news releases and other information regarding court operations during the pandemic.</p>
