The El Paso and Teller county courthouses will return to “normal or near-normal operations” by July 6, with only unvaccinated people required to use masks, the Pikes Peak region’s top judge said Tuesday in a new order.

Fourth Judicial District Judge William Bain cited the availability of vaccines to all adults in Colorado and “slowly declining” infection rates in Teller and El Paso counties in relaxing restrictions. The change — which appears on course to return trial capacity to pre-pandemic levels — could clear the way to begin addressing a historic backlog in cases.

The move depends on “the course of the pandemic over the next six weeks” and any new orders issued by Gov. Jared Polis, Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Brian Boatright or the Colorado Department of Health, the order said.

The order follows Polis’ ending of the mask requirement for vaccinated adults on Friday. Boatright, however, issued an order Monday requiring that all people in public areas of state courthouses wear masks until June 18.

Under Bain’s order, the mask requirement will survive two more weeks for all courthouse visitors in El Paso and Teller counties, until July 2. Beginning June 1, the social-distancing requirement will be reduced from 6 feet to 3.

The pace of trials will also increase until normal operations resume.

Starting in June, the courthouse will seat up to four district court jury trials per day and two county court jury trials per day Monday through Thursday, the order said.

One jury trial per day will also be held at the old Metro jail, which is adjacent to the courthouse.

The Teller County courthouse in Cripple Creek will resume a normal course of trials in June while conforming to mask requirements and 3-foot distancing rules.

The Colorado courts are facing a reckoning in the form of tens of thousands of cases that backed up amid pandemic-related closures, and El Paso and Teller counties are no exception, say longtime legal observers. 

“(The backup is) the worst I’ve ever seen in 20-plus years,” said criminal defense attorney Joshua Tolini. “It’s significant. From homicide cases down to minor stuff, it’s fairly backlogged.”

Tolini predicted wide-ranging court battles over aging criminal cases, as judges across the state face a future in which they can no longer invoke a public health emergency to declare mistrials as a way of getting out of speedy trial requirements.

Under Colorado law, the stakes for violating speedy trial rights can mean dismissing charges against criminal defendants. 

“Now the litigation starts,” Tolini said.

A protester who declined to give her name gives a speech during a protest in front of the El Paso County Courthouse in downtown Colorado Springs on Oct. 6, 2020. The protest was against the Colorado Springs Police Department over the treatment of several protesters who were arrested earlier this year following a demonstration outside the home of a police officer.

The Gazette file