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The COVID-19 pandemic created situations for the Iowa court system and caused counties to have a backlog of criminal cases.

Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn says jury trials and in person hearings were delayed due to the pandemic last year and only recently have the courts allowed for all in person proceedings to take place once again. He points out the situation forced several criminal cases to build up, but he feels several cases were managed well.

“We were able to process a lot of our cases despite the courts being shut down. We did as much as we could by video conference, we still met with defense attornies, tried to negotiate outcomes to as many of the cases as we could.”

Laehn explains the peaks and valleys in terms of the crime rate following last year when lots of COVID-19 restrictions were in place to this year with those restrictions subsiding and the weather being warmer.

“Some of the backlog was reduced very quickly this spring. We processed a large number of cases, probably 25-percent of my cases were resolved almost immediately reopened. But some of that reduction in cases was offset by an increase in crime as we emerged from the pandemic and as the weather improved.” 

Laehn believes his office is sitting in a better position with the number of criminal cases compared to several other counties in the state.