The Marion County courtroom upgrade project is now complete and trials are being held.

This was approved by the board of supervisors at the end of April and According to Marion County Attorney Jared Harmon, traditionally there have been three courtrooms in the courthouse. The District Associate courtroom on the 4th floor is where misdemeanors, traffic, juvenile, small claims, and more are handled. The “main” courtroom on the third floor is where jury trials, felony proceedings, divorce and custody matters are held. There was another “secondary” courtroom across the hall on the third floor. This was used for some civil trials, court service day, and other hearings when necessary, and could be used for court whenever there was a jury trial in the main courtroom. However, in 2020 when Covid arrived, the decision was made to remove the secondary third-floor courtroom to make space for social distancing. 

Since Covid restrictions have been lifted, it has become clear to the attorney’s office that they need that courtroom back in use. They have had multiple situations where they’ve had two district court hearings at the same time and nowhere to conduct the second. It has been a goal of Harmon’s to restore that courtroom after he took office. Harmon tells KNIA/KRLS that the county maintenance department did a great job on the project and that justice shouldn’t be delayed due to a lack of space. 

“This has always been one of my goals, to try and get that courtroom back because we need it. We have enough cases of criminal and civil that we shouldn’t have to delay justice or tell people we can’t have hearings because we don’t have enough space. The board of supervisors and especially our maintenance department that is run by Chris Nesteby, I can’t say enough about what he did to make this happen.”

Earlier this year, an administrator from the Judicial Branch was visiting to consider new furniture for the courtrooms. Harmon asked her about restoring the courtroom and how much funding the Judicial Branch could provide. There is a statute that says if a courtroom is created/restored, the Judicial Branch is responsible for 75% of the cost and the county must cover the remaining 25% which was approved by the supervisors. The county cost for this project was $22,000.