KINGSTON – Since courthouses are shuttered because of COVID-19, arraignments are now being done remotely.
Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa said in those cases, the defendant is brought to the county law enforcement center in Kingston and the district attorney and legal aid attorneys conference in on Skype.
“The judges are responsible to contact the prosecutor and public defender and when the police and when the police department makes that arrest and it is a qualifying arrest because of new bail reform, they will bring them over to the Ulster County Law Enforcement Center and we will have a virtual court,” he said. “So, the judge is literally at their home. The district attorney is at their office and the defense attorney is either at their office or at their home, and the defendant is in front of a camera.”
All parties do not come to the court because of the coronavirus.
