S1, E6: Judge Nick Chu

In the summer of 2020, Nick Chu, a young justice of the peace in Austin, Texas made history by presiding over the nation's first virtual criminal jury trial. The misdemeanor case involved a woman accused of speeding in a construction zone, and while that might seem uncomplicated, Chu and his staff worked through numerous procedures in order to translate an in-person proceeding to a video conferencing format, including crafting jury summons with a URL, assigning Zoom breakout rooms for sidebars and creating Dropboxes for evidence. On this month's episode of Approach The Bench we speak with Judge Chu about trials via computer screen and other innovations he oversaw as a justice of the peace, as well as his efforts to retain his seat as an elected judge in Texas and the difficulties of running for judicial office in partisan elections.