OMAHA, NE — The US District Court for the State of Nebraska says that, due to continued high levels of coronavirus cases in the state, the court is continuing all civil and criminal cases through July 3.
Grand Jury proceedings have been moved back until June 12.
In a statement issued by the court, Chief US District Judge John Gerrard said that current data on coronavirus in the state makes it necessary to push back the dates when trials and Grand Jury proceedings can resume.
The statement read in part:
But at present, Nebraska leads the nation in percentage growth in new confirmed cases of COVID-19. That growth has been primarily driven by outbreaks in communities that are home to large meatpacking operations—but the Court's juries are drawn in part from those communities. And in Douglas and Lancaster Counties—home to the district's courthouses—the trajectories of both confirmed cases and positive tests as a percentage of total tests are trending upwards. In sum, neither the district as a whole nor the communities in which the district's courthouses are located presently meet the gating criteria for even a phased resumption of operations.
