Witness Subpoena

I’m supposed to show up at a Los Angeles County Courthouse as a witness for a criminal trial. It’s related to a fraud case at work. The case is still on the preliminary hearing phase after 18 months since it kept getting delayed. I’ve been to the courtroom several times just to have the case pushed out another month.

With all the COVID-19 related closures and stay-at-home orders, the court seems to be still open. Since this is a preliminary hearing, and 20 cases are heard each day, there’s easily over 100 people walking in and out of the courtroom. Since Monday, I’ve been calling the court and the District Attorney’s office trying to get some guidance on what to do but no one has called me back. I have several medical conditions that puts me in the high risk group: heart disease, diabetes, and dialysis. It’s going to be super risky for me to go and sit in the courtroom for several hours.

I told my boss about this in our staff meeting Wednesday and I received emails from several people in Legal. One of our corporate attorneys said that under no circumstance should I attend the hearing. It’s not worth the risk even thought I was issued a subpoena. I’m still a bit worried since getting arrested and thrown in jail is probably even more risky than going to the courtroom. Let’s hope that the judge can proceed with the case without me being there since I passed all the evidence to a detective a long time ago.