Montana officials are selecting a jury in a middle school gym because it's the only space large enough for jurors to socially distance

• Jury selection for a Montana criminal trial will occur in a middle school gymnasium because it's the only space large enough to safely accommodate dozens of people.
• The entire trial may occur in the gym, according to The Wall Street Journal, and officials will take safety measures like implementing temperature checks and providing masks and hand sanitizer.
• Courtrooms across the country have postponed all but the most essential proceedings, but officials are trying to come up with creative solutions to uphold defendants' constitutional right to a speedy trial.
• Earlier this week, a Texas court held the country's first virtual jury trial via Zoom software, and other courtrooms are undergoing remodeling to better allow for social distancing.

Kootenai Valley officials in Montana will select jurors for a domestic assault trial in a middle school gymnasium because it's the only space in the county that's large enough to safely gather dozens of prospective jurors, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The proceedings begin June 9, and the entire trial may well occur in the gym, where those involved will be subject to temperature checks and be provided with masks and hand sanitizer, The Journal reported.

The pandemic has posed a major challenge for courtrooms across the country. They've suspended jury trials indefinitely, but cannot do so forever. Criminal defendants have a constitutional right to a speedy trial under the Sixth Amendment, so officials have been forced to get creative.

"You have some absolute constitutional rights that defendants have — a jury of 12 people, from their community, in a timely fashion," District Court Judge Matthew Cuffe told The Journal. He added that prospective jurors also "have the right to a clean, healthy, and safe environment."

Courts have struggled thus far to balance those two rights, and judges have mostly opted to postpone criminal trials. But as the months go by and states begin to reopen, officials are under increasing pressure to find other ways to safely resume courtroom proceedings.

A Texas court, for instance, held what was believed to be the country's first virtual jury trial amid the coronavirus pandemic on Monday, according to Reuters. But the trial via Zoom was for a civil lawsuit, not a criminal case, and the one-day proceeding ended with a non-binding verdict.

In Oregon, Deschutes County officials even spent $10,000 to remodel a courtroom to allow the jurors, witnesses, lawyers, and judges to stay at safe distances from one another, according to The Bulletin.

In Manhattan, one federal court has scheduled a criminal trial for the first week of September. Officials there are planning to implement a number of safety measures, such as expanding the jury box, limiting elevator use, and installing plexiglass barriers around witness stands, The Journal reported.

It's unclear if courts will start holding criminal trials virtually, and defense attorneys have already raised a number of concerns about the idea — including whether virtual trials would jeopardize defendants' Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses, and whether jurors and witnesses would even have access to high-quality internet or the necessary technology.