View Comments
Lori Loughlin won’t see her trial date moved (yet) despite the coronavirus outbreak, The Boston Herald reports.
What’s happening:
- Judge Nathaniel Gorton issued a brief Tuesday that said the trial date will remain scheduled for October despite the pandemic, which has caused widespread business and event closures across the country.
- Gorton wrote: “This judicial officer hereby determines that all established pre-trial deadlines in the above-captioned case continue to apply. Any motion for an extension of time will be considered on an individualized basis and granted only for good cause shown.”
- Federal courts in Boston, Springfield and Worcester in Massachusetts remain open, according to Fox News. The Boston federal courthouse has been the epicenter for the trial.
- Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, are accused of paying $500,000 in bribes so that their daughter, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose Giannulli, would be crew recruits for the University of Southern California. The couple pleaded not guilty to all charges.
- Federal judges scheduled Loughlin and Giannulli to face trial on Oct. 5.
A previous report suggested something different
- As I wrote, there was some speculation that Loughlin’s trial could be pushed back because of the outbreak.
- Harry Nelson, managing partner of Los Angeles-based health care law firm Nelson Hardiman, told Fox News that he expected the trial would be delayed.
- Nelson: “We are moving into uncharted territory with COVID-19. From high-profile cases like Lori Loughlin’s to the everyday criminal, civil, family court matters, this is a new world. Lawyers, court clerks, jurors see themselves as sitting ducks until we close down the courts.”
- Nelson told Fox News a delay would help Loughlin: “The backlash from closing the courts is going to be terrible. People may take liberties because they can’t be held accountable by the other side racing into court. There is going to backlog for a long time to come. COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on our judicial system.”