The New Mexico Supreme Court will pause criminal and civil jury trials through the end of 2020, officials announced Friday.
An order issued by the court will suspend jury trials set to begin on or after Nov. 16 to next year. Trials currently underway are not affected.
New Mexico’s appellate, district, metropolitan and magistrate courts will also remain open.
The order came hours after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that the state will shelter in place for two weeks starting on Monday. Nonessential businesses will have to close, and people are advised to leave their homes only for essential trips.
The shelter-in-place measure does not apply to court operations, but the Supreme Court’s precautions “will reduce the number of people who need to come to a courthouse at a time when the state has tightened public health order restrictions on New Mexicans because of a spike in COVID-19,” Chief Justice Michael E. Vigil said in a statement.
