COLUMBUS, Ohio _ She was seated miles away from her Franklin County courtroom, but Judge Julie M. Lynch could see through a video link that the defendant's guilty plea in a domestic violence case wasn't sincere.
"Do you want to go to jail?" she asked him. "I'm not impressed by what you have to say here. I'm not hearing any remorse. I'm not hearing any regret. I'm not hearing any sorrow."
Her frustration was visible on the large video screen at the front of her Common Pleas courtroom. She sighed, shook her head and imposed one year of probation for the misdemeanor offense.
Lynch never has been shy about confronting defendants when she is angered by their crimes or their attitude. And handling cases remotely amid the pandemic hasn't altered her approach.
"Clearly, my style as a judge has changed zero in this format," she said Wednesday after hearing a full docket of cases via video from a remote location. For security reasons, she declined to identify the location where she is working.
Lynch has avoided the courthouse since mid-March, when all but the most essential court functions were shut down due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Nearly all of Franklin County Common Pleas Court's 17 judges have been back in their courtrooms for the past month on a modified schedule, but Lynch said her status as a high-risk individual _ she's 60 and has asthma _ prompted her to ask for a video connection.
"It has worked brilliantly," she said. "My courtroom is operating exactly as it would normally. It's been an easy transition."
Her bailiff, staff attorney, secretary and court reporter are all back in the courthouse. The biggest difference for those who enter her courtroom is the video screen in front of her bench, topped by a camera.
The video link allows prosecutors, defense attorneys and defendants to see and interact with Lynch.
On her end, Lynch has two video screens _ one that allows her to see and hear those in the courtroom and the other that gives her access to records of the cases and documents that she can review and sign electronically.
Everyone in the courtroom is required to wear a mask, and plexiglass barriers are in place to separate attorneys from each other and from the defendants. Hand sanitizer is available, as is disinfectant spray for the attorneys to wipe down tables and keyboards between cases.
Signs taped to benches in the gallery limit where spectators can sit.
Technical problems have been few.
"I haven't had to call IT once," Lynch said, referring to the court's information technology staff.
Judge Colleen O'Donnell is the only other judge on the county Common Pleas bench who has stayed away from the courthouse on all but a handful of days throughout the pandemic. She has largely worked remotely from home because COVID-19 shut down day care for her children, ages 2 and 5.
"I've done most of my work through teleconferencing," O'Donnell said. "We've done some video conferencing with Zoom, but it's mostly been phone calls."
The technology has been "very successful and effective in getting cases heard and managed," O'Donnell said. She expects that the convenience and efficiency of video and teleconference links will keep the technology in place for some court communications long after the pandemic ends.
As for the downside, O'Donnell said she misses much of the personal interaction that takes place in the courthouse.
"Sometimes there are advantages to sitting in the same room with someone," she said. "It depends on the nature of the case. Things that are more emotional or sensitive can be better managed in person."
The court's administrative judge, Stephen L. McIntosh, said cases are proceeding "as well as we could have expected" since judges began the modified reopening June 1.
"People are complying with the (mandatory) mask order and, generally speaking, attorneys are trying to get cases resolved," he said.
But judges barely have put a dent in the backlog of cases that was caused by closing down much of the courts' business for more than two months, McIntosh said.
In an attempt to limit the number of people coming and going at the courthouse, judges now are conducing hearings on alternate weeks. That means that just half of the courtrooms are operating at any given time, limiting the ability of judges to quickly catch up on their dockets, he said.
Jury trials, which can't be done remotely and pose major social distancing concerns, have been pushed to the fall or beyond my most judges. Just one trial, in a theft case for a defendant who refused to waive his speedy trial rights, has been held since judges returned to their courtrooms, McIntosh said.
If Lynch has a case in which there are speedy trial issues and a defendant who wants a jury trial, she'll have no choice but to be present in court, she said.
"I'd go in," she said. "But I've been emphatic with counsel that we're in undesirable conditions to try cases."
