Newaygo County Courts Go Live

You can't sit in the courtroom but you can still take in the action

Court sessions on YouTube
By N3 News
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With the arrival of the COVID-19 virus and the subsequent restrictions required of  services, businesses and government entities, the courtrooms, once a place open for citizens to witness the machinations of the justice system,  have been closed to the public since March 18th. Depite this, the courts have, of course, remained open for business with the capacity to handle all hearings remotely.

“Work for essential services on all types of court cases has been ongoing since that time,” said Wendy Jarvis, Trial Court Director/FOC. “We are currently prevented from having a jury trial however, until June 22nd and are working with reduced staffing as well to ensure social distancing.
“Circuit, District and Probate are utilizing the county’s conferencing center for hearings by phone and also utilizing Zoom for appearances by video/audio,” she added. “ Social distancing is also adhered to in the courtroom. Additionally, we are accepting new cases and filings via email, fax, and mail.”

And the latest change?
The public can now attend court sessions...albeit virtually.

Each of the courts are now being live streamed on YouTube via the county’s web page and the court dockets are available there as well.

The county website is http://www.countyofnewaygo.com
 Once there you can click on ‘Departments’ and then ‘Courts’ which will display Circuit, District and Probate  courts.

Now those who wish to observe the doings of the court  because of a vested interest or out of mere curiosity have once again been given access to do so.

Without leaving home. 

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