A Texan’s speeding ticket put her in the legal history books last week.
To combat the backlog in criminal cases created by the pandemic, a Travis County justice of the peace conducted the nation’s first virtual criminal trial.
The case was livestreamed on YouTube, and the jurors deliberated in a private Zoom room. Legal experts debated whether trial by Zoom properly balanced constitutional concerns such as the right to a speedy trial and the right to confront witnesses.
The test case? A nurse’s misdemeanor ticket for speeding in a construction zone. The jury found the nurse, Calli Kornblau, guilty of speeding but acquitted ...