By Josué Monroy
FRESNO – It got a little confusing in Fresno County Superior Court one day last week—a Zoom malfunction and inaccurate emails complicated things for Judge Glenda Allen-Hill in Department 11.
The morning session began as usual, with the judge running through various continuances for preliminary hearings and checking in with individuals on probation through remote proceedings. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, judges and most counsels have been appearing remotely via the Zoom app, while defendants have usually appeared in person at the Fresno County courthouse.
By mid-morning, however, there was trouble with Deputy District Attorney Kendall Reynolds’ connection to the service.
At the time, Judge Allen-Hill had called the matter of Nishan Goorigian, who was to be present in court for an arraignment for a felony concealed weapon charge dating back to November 2018. Goorigian was out on bond and did not appear in court because of quarantine related to COVID-19.
Assistant Public Defender Brendan Berg stood in on his behalf, asking the court to continue the arraignment to a later date. DDA Reynolds took exception to the defendant being out of custody, alleging 
Goorigian had been involved in another crime since being on release, but his screen froze before he could make a final statement.
“I’m concerned that Mr. Reynolds’ microphone is not working. We’ll see you back on Sept 8, then,” said Judge Allen-Hill to Berg, after getting no response from Reynolds’ frozen screen.
“I think we lost the DA,” chimed in the court clerk.
Reynolds was the only representative from the DA’s office in court that morning, and no more cases could be called in his absence, prompting the judge to call a morning recess.
After the break, DDA Reynolds was back on screen and apologized to the judge for the malfunction.
“Judge, I apologize for that. Our system was down for five to seven minutes,” explained Reynolds.
At about the same time of the Zoom issue, two defense attorneys addressed the court regarding confusing emails they had received from Department 11.
Frank Butler, a private defense attorney, had been waiting his turn to inquire about a client’s case while the Zoom glitch played out. He was confused as to an email he had received from the court.
“I got an email from Department 11 saying David Morales was on for today—it’s on my calendar for tomorrow,” Butler informed Judge Allen-Hill.
“You got an email from the court?” the judge asked.
At that point, the court clerk confirmed that the email had been sent to attorney Butler, but that he was given the wrong link with the wrong date.
Another defense attorney, Annette Smurr, stated to the court that she got an invitation via email about a probation violation hearing regarding Francisco Valenzuela, a client she no longer represented.
“You represent him until you are relieved. Did you ask to be relieved last hearing?” asked Judge Allen-Hill.
“I did, and I marked it in my calendar,” responded Smurr, noting that she was relieved from representing Valenzuela at that hearing, pointing out that Odyssey, Fresno Superior Court’s case management and information system, did not reflect that fact.
The court clerk corroborated that, and took the attorney at her word. She was officially removed from the case.
These malfunctions and bad information could lead to defendants not getting their due process during remote hearings. Had DDA Reynolds not been able to log back on after the Zoom failure, the court would not have been able to proceed for the rest of the morning, and defendants would have had to prolong their cases.
This would appear, to court watchers, to hinder the ability of the court to guarantee a speedy judicial process.
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