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Escambia County court officials announced today the Jan. 11, 2021 jury term has been canceled because of the increase in positive COVID-19 tests.

Circuit Judge Jeff White said that jury terms will resume in March 2021 as scheduled.

White said the district attorney and defense counsel are encouraged to use the week of Jan. 11, 2021 to discuss settlement. A circuit judge willbeavailabletotakepleas.

All other large dockets will be managed by the judge presiding over said docket to mitigate the risk to the public and court personnel, he said.

Circuit Clerk John Fountain said since the county was upgraded to high risk on Jan. 7, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines suggest for any high-risk counties no more than groups of 20 can congregate.

“We are very sorry for any inconvenience this causes on the citizens of Escambia County, Ala.,” Fountain said. “Please know that we are working diligently but with caution on dealing with jury terms during this pandemic. Please disregard any jury summons for jury duty for that day.”