An announcement was posted to the county website stated that Cobb County Superior Court Chief Judge Robert Leonard has canceled jury trials due to the recent severe rise in COVID-19 cases in the county.

Here is the announcement:

Cobb’s Chief Judge issued a directive today that will pause jury trials for the next three weeks due to the spike of COVID-19 cases in Cobb County.

Here is the message sent out by Cobb County Superior Court Judge Robert D. Leonard:

Today I directed jury administration to cancel our trial jurors through January 21, 2022. I will continue to consult with our stakeholders and the department of public health and re-evaluate things in the weeks ahead. I will continue to strive to take a measured approach and may extend this pause in jury operations or resume it as appropriate.

I did not make this decision lightly. We must keep in mind that jury service compels people of all walks of life, with all health conditions and vaccination status to attend court. Additionally, the likelihood of successfully getting through a lengthy jury trial when our community spread is at this record level is slim.

I appreciate your patience as we try to work through the challenges that COVID continues to throw at us.

This decision will not impact Grand Jury proceedings. Chief Judge Bowers has indicated that the State Court of Cobb County is following suit.

The Georgia Department of Public Health has delayed the release of data on statewide and county cases due to the amount of data overwhelming their system.

“We are working to fix the problem and expect to have an update tomorrow at 3 p.m,” the announcement on the GDPH website stated yesterday afternoon.

The Chief Juvenile Court Judge also released an order outlining changes in effect until February 4, 2022 that you can read by following this link.