The 2019 novel coronavirus has impacted many areas of people’s lives, including the court system, which one county prosecutor has called, “chaos in the courts.”

Assistant Greene County Attorney Laura Snider recently formed a court access advisory board to better handle some of the new requirements and advisories from the Iowa Supreme Court. Some of the decisions were to push all jury trials to July and not having magistrate court hearings until mid-June. However, hearings and other appearances can be done electronically. Snider explains her initial goal with the new board.

“I wanted to provide the best possible access to the community, especially those who are underprivileged, or poor, and don’t have access to even a phone or internet access.”

Snider says her job has been impacted because she mostly handles juvenile and magistrate court cases for the County. She points out that having court hearings and sentences done electronically doesn’t have the same effect as it does in-person.

“Because they don’t see the judge in the black robe, and it doesn’t seem as serious as it is whenever you’re seeing the person that is making the determination (in a case).”

Snider says her ultimate goal is to establish a terminal in the community so that anyone could access it for court hearings.