Court is in session?: Judges absences from bench adding to COVID backlog
People check a Shelby County court docket in 2013. According to documents stored in the Shelby County Criminal Court Clerk’s office, some judges have missed as many as 32 days from the bench since the beginning of 2022. (Daily Memphian file)
Though it includes 10 judges and 10 divisions, Shelby County’s criminal court system had only tried 32 cases by August of this year — and there’s a backlog of 465 pending trials.
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court backlogs Shelby County Criminal Court Shelby County General Sessions Court Subscriber OnlyThank you for supporting local journalism.
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Julia Baker
Julia Baker covers Memphis and Shelby County’s law enforcement agencies and is a member of The Daily Memphian’s public safety reporting team. A lifelong Memphian, Julia graduated from the University of Memphis in 2021. Other publications and organizations she has written for include Chalkbeat, Memphis Flyer, Memphis Parent magazine and Memphis magazine.
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