Coronavirus Stimulates County Court to Introduce Innovations Allowing Traffic Violators to Appear via Internet

From the McHenry County Circuit Court:

22nd Judicial Circuit Offers Zoom Option for Traffic Court

(Woodstock, IL) On May 20, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered that Circuit Courts may resume hearing court matters, whether in person or remotely.

The seal of the 22nd Circuit Court.

In anticipation of this order, the 22nd Judicial Circuit in coordination with various justice stakeholders, including McHenry County Emergency Management, developed a Reestablishment Plan to allow for the safe resumption of effective and meaningful courthouse operations.

One goal of the Reestablishment Plan is to reduce the number of people coming to the Michael J. Sullivan Judicial Center, thus mitigating virus transmission.

To help accomplish this goal, the Circuit’s Reestablishment Plan included increased opportunities for remote appearances in many kinds of cases, including in traffic court.

Traffic court is a high-volume docket with hundreds of people typically coming to court each week.

If an individual receives a citation for a petty traffic offense, they may appear remotely in McHenry Courtroom 102 using Zoom.

The remote appearance will be on the same date
designated on the citation, however it will begin 30 minutes after the time listed on the citation.

For example, the remote appearance for a citation with a return court date of August 1, 2020 at 1:30 pm will be on August 1, 2020 at 2:00 pm.

By opening the remote courtroom 30 minutes after in-person matters, the traffic court judge can maintain a reasonable flow of cases and limit delays.

Individuals wishing to appear in traffic court remotely need not contact the Circuit Clerk’s Office or the Court to request a remote appearance.

Rather, the individual simply enters into any web browser on a smartphone, laptop, desktop personal computer or other handheld device to appear in the virtual traffic courtroom on the appropriate date and time. Once the presiding Judge opens the remote courtroom at the designated time, participants are moved from the waiting room into the courtroom where they can see the courtroom, judge, prosecutor and other participants.

Links to information about virtual appearances can be found on the McHenry County Circuit Clerk’s website here.

Jennifer Johnson

Associate Judge Jennifer L. Johnson, who presides over traffic court stated, “I welcome the remote appearance choice for individuals faced with a petty traffic ticket. 

“Many have found remote appearances are more convenient than coming to court in-person.

“Looking long-term, I am hopeful the option to appear remotely is an improvement that increases access to and participation in the justice system. 

“I am pleased we have been able to implement this change with the help and cooperation of our justice partners, the Circuit Clerk’s office, and with the support of Court Administration,” Johnson continued.

Circuit Clerk Kathy Keefe stated, “The 22nd Circuit has been a leader with virtual courtrooms during the pandemic, particularly in the area of virtual traffic court.

“I have been contacted by Circuit Clerks from all over the state asking about our virtual traffic court, because we were one of the first counties in Illinois to give it a try.”

“The technology is free and user friendly,” stated Judge Johnson.

Circuit Clerk Kathy Keefe indicated that “Traffic court brings the most people to the courthouse, and our virtual traffic court program has been very successful not only reducing the number of people in the building every day, but also offering the public an option to take care of their traffic ticket without taking a day off from work or school.

“It is a low-cost solution which greatly improves the public’s access to justice in McHenry County.”

Chief Judge James S. Cowlin stated, “This pandemic has caused the courts to become innovative and more responsive to the public when handling the business of the courts.

“Remote appearances are a safe and efficient tool for court patrons.”

The 22nd Judicial Circuit of McHenry County and the Circuit Clerk’s Office encourages court users to take advantage of virtual appearances.

Presently, the 22 \nd Judicial Circuit allows for virtual appearances for certain traffic cases, civil cases and family law cases.


Comments

Coronavirus Stimulates County Court to Introduce Innovations Allowing Traffic Violators to Appear via Internet — 11 Comments

  1. That’s okay as Patty O’Kenneally has had extra time for marching around, eating doughnuts and hitting the buffet.

    But keep those checks coming in!

  2. In spite of prominent signs I still see people in the grocery stores, hardwares, inside gas stations and elsewhere not wearing masks, not covering their noses, not following the arrows on the floor.

    A week or so ago woman came into the Jewel, promptly took her mask off and walked around the store.

    I brought this to the attention of whom I believe was the assistant manager, who said she couldn’t say anything to the woman (about not having her mask on) ,that it was up to the store manager.

    I think this is ridiculous

    Businesses need to enforce the mask requirement even if it offends that one customer in order to protect many others shopping in the store.

  3. Who did this judge sleep with to get her job?

    Was it a man, woman, robot?

  4. Associate judges are selected from a pool of applicants by the circuit judges.

    You can read who they are on the court’s public website.

    You can read the law and Supreme Court rules on the process.

    You can look up the Illinois Courts Commission online.

    You could actually look for facts and evidence before yapping.

    But not you.

    You sit in your basement anonymously spewing nonsense.

  5. @ Walker the Leftist snitch – our rights begin where yours end.

    Deal with it.

  6. Walker? You are a Gestapo new world order follower that is dangerous! Shame on you for being a tattletale that would enslave themself and others because of lies. You are a VERY EVIL person. You are deceived and extremely DANGEROUS!

  7. Walker, there is no mask requirement right now.

    Until an appeals court says otherwise the courts have ruled the governor’s orders have violated the emergency powers act.

    Ignoring our court system because we don’t like the decision is far more dangerous than any virus.

  8. Hell, the general division and violence I see in our country today is far more dangerous than any virus.

    If left unchecked, yes many would die, but what we are doing as a country right now has the potential to destroy our nation.

    When we have Americans getting into fights with other Americans over stupid things like wearing masks, we don’t have a chance as a country.

    People need to wake up and see how our common enemies are trying to divide us and cause us to fight with each other.

    If we don’t do this soon it will be too late.

  9. Thank you, Martin.

    It’s wrong to assume that every woman in a position of power climbed the ladder by sleeping around.

    I’ll also add that Judge Johnson is cordial and reasonable.

  10. A lot going on that the marxists, leftists, subversives, anarchists, democrats, leftists took advantage of a single incident in Minneapolis. The democrats/anarchists are using this Minneapolis thing as their Ram Emanual scheme he stated which is, “Never let a crisis go to waste”. Make a crisis out of an incident, amplify it and start a revolution to overthrow the US Government. Shades of the revolutionaries of the 60’s, 70’s whose children or grandchildren can now assume their original goal. Anarchists, vandals, looters all need to be brought to justice and go to jail for their violation of laws.

  11. Low IQ judges were the norm in this county 20 yrs ago.

    Maybe things have improved.

    But I doubt it.

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