It was also the first trial in which a cat made an appearance on a juror’s living room couch and the first trial in which a YouTube user commented “omg one of the jurors has a cat.”
When potential jurors arrived in Travis County Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Nicholas Chu's virtual courtroom in the morning, the judge welcomed them in and sorted them into a Zoom breakout room, where court staff took down information and made sure the potential jurors were familiar with the videoconferencing technology ahead of the selection process, also called voir dire.
The trial was conducted via video to ensure the safety of the participants and slow the spread of COVID-19 in the community. According to an order from the Texas Supreme Court, all jury trials are suspended until Sept. 1 in the state, unless those trials meet a specific set of criteria.
"This is jury duty, a little bit different than what we’re used to," Chu told the jurors once they were all checked in "All of us know the coronavirus has dealt us serious challenges in terms of how we live our day-to-day lives. One of the things we’ve tried to do as the judiciary is try to keep the community safe to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 but also to safeguard our constitutional rights—one of which is trial by jury."
The trial ran a bit behind schedule—which Chu said was expected due to the newness of the technology—but otherwise followed the beats of a relatively common low-level criminal trial, with discussions of the concept of reasonable doubt, prima facie evidence and sidebars between the attorneys and the judge that took place in a breakout room instead of Chu's chambers.
The jury delivered a guilty verdict State of Texas v. Kornblau, a case of a vehicle speeding in a construction zone, around 5:30 p.m. after hearing from the attorneys; the defendant, Callie Kornblau; and Stephen Shockey, the Travis County officer who pulled Kornblau over on Weiss Lane in Pflugerville in March 2018.
But the process did have a few hiccups that were likely familiar to anyone who has been working from home since March. There were reminders to unmute, sketchy audio, one juror who had to be dismissed due to technical issues and another—who was not selected for the trial—who had "Goth Brooks" listed as his name.
Chu reminded the jurors that while working via video may be familiar to them, they should leave some habits they may have developed during meetings at the virtual courtroom door—such as checking their texts or scrolling through social media.
The case centered around a morning in March of 2018 in which Kornblau was returning from a run in the area of Lake Pflugerville. She was pulled over by Shockey for going 51 on Weiss Lane, which usually has a 45 mph speed limit but was knocked down to 35 mph because of construction in the area.
Kornblau's attorney, Carl Guthrie, argued that no workers were present in the area and signs for the construction zone were not clearly marked.
"It’s a simple case, but it’s an important one. No signs, no workers, not guilty," Guthrie said.
But jurors ultimately sided with the prosecution, which asserted that signs were in the area that Kornblau missed—and while there were no workers in the area where she was pulled over, they were present in the construction zone.
"She never saw the sign, ladies and gentlemen, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist or they’re not there," said prosecutor Afton Washbourne of the Travis County Attorney's Office.
The offense is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable in Texas by only a fine. It was a run-of-the-mill case, but Chu reminded the jurors that the moment was anything but ordinary.
"You guys are making history just by doing your jobs," he said.
