Press Release
District Court, Upper

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Upper Kittitas County District Court, Cle Elum Municipal Court & Roslyn Municipal Court Jury Trial suspension extended through 3/31/2021

Kittitas County, WA - 01/12/2021 - Judge Darrel R. Ellis has extended the suspension of Jury Trials in the Upper Kittitas County District Court, Cle Elum Municipal Court and Roslyn Municipal Court through March 31, 2021.

On November 15, 2020, Governor Inslee announced a new set of restrictions for the State of Washington based on the rising number of COVID-19 cases.   Governor Inslee established new restrictions for indoor social gatherings, decreased capacity in restaurants and retailers, and other crowd-limiting measures.  On, January 11, 2021, Governor Inslee announced Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery, a COVID-19 phased recovery plan.  All counties in the state are to follow a regional recovery approach with every region being assigned to Phase 1.   As Kittitas County is currently in Phase 1, effective immediately, the Upper Kittitas County District Court, Cle Elum Municipal Court and Roslyn Municipal Court will suspend Jury Trials through March 31, 2021.

Based upon the Court’s finding that serious danger posed by COVID-19 is good cause to continue criminal trials and constitutes and unavoidable circumstance under CrRLJ 3.3(e)(8), the time between the original Order, December 3, 2020 and March 31, 2021, shall be EXCLUDED when calculating time for trial.

This Jury Trial Suspension Order will be reviewed on or about March 15, 2021, with additional reviews approximately every 30 days thereafter, as deemed necessary, until the Jury Trial Suspension Order is retracted.

The Court will remain open to the public during regular business hours.  As the situation changes, the Court may make modifications to comply with the rapidly changing environment.   Please review https://www.co.kittitas.wa.us/courts/upper for the most recent information.
 

Kittitas County, from the Cascades to the Columbia, and online at http://www.co.kittitas.wa.us

###

Contact: Diana MacKenzie, Court Administrator
Upper Kittitas County District Court/Cle Elum Municipal Court/Roslyn Municipal Court
700 East 1st Street
Cle Elum, WA 98922
(509) 674-5533

Sign up for email notifications

---