Protocol and Practice of Persons Appearing in the Court of Commissioner Keelan Bodow
Specific Comments or Advice for Litigants
Specific Requirements or Preferences
The following procedures are applicable to cases with hearings scheduled in SE Courtroom 5 (Commissioner Bodow) during the COVID-19 pandemic:• All hearings will presumptively be held telephonically. If a telephonic-only hearing will not suffice in an exigent circumstance, or pursuant to Rule 12, counsel for a party should request an in person hearing by emailing Division staff at least 24 hours in advance of the hearing. Please do not arrive for hearings in person, even if you have moved for an in-person hearing and you do not yet know the Court’s decision. Please plan to submit necessary documents via email to Division staff (Kiara.carr@jbazmc.maricopa.gov), or contact Division staff to make other arrangements. Proposed orders should be submitted in separate PDFs from the motion. (Local Rule 2.17)
• To facilitate telephonic appearances, the Bridge Line (Commissioner Bodow), is 1-855-506-9695, Code 162746#. As soon as you dial-in to that number, you are likely to be in the courtroom and on the record. Counsel, please advise your clients of the same. No party or counsel should call that number and automatically announce or inquire while another proceeding is ongoing. Thank you for helping keep our record of proceedings clean and timely. Please wait for an email or notification from Division Staff that your hearing is beginning and that you should call the Bridge Line. When entering the bridge line, please mute your phone so all participants do not hear your background noise. If people are talking, please do not interrupt to announce your presence on the line, but rather, wait for a break in the conversation to state your appearance.
(For certain proceedings--those closed to the public or in the interest of judicial economy--GoToMeeting lines will be established. If there is a request to conduct a hearing via GoToMeeting when it has not been noticed as such, please advise Division staff at least 48 hours in advance of the hearing to allow the Court to evaluate.)
• The Rule 41(F) admonition regarding confidentiality applies to all open hearings conducted via Bridge Line. All attendees are prohibited by order of the court from disclosing outside the hearing personally identifiable information about the child, the child's siblings, parents, guardians, or caregivers and any others mentioned in the hearing.
• If as many counsel as possible can create a conference call between themselves and their client—and then dial that conference call into the Bridge Line when it is time—this will cut down on wait time for hearings to get started. If this creates signal issues for the location you're calling from, it is fine to have your client call the bridge directly. If you get a busy signal on the bridge line, please disconnect your call and try again.
• Plea agreements must be in writing and signed, but emailed copies will be accepted.
• If a hearing requires any exhibits, please either email the exhibits to staff at Kiara.carr@jbazmc.maricopa.gov, or deliver a hard copy to the Division at least 10 business days in advance.
• If you become aware that you, an immediate in-home family member, a client, an immediate in-home family member of a client, or anyone who would normally appear for a case is ill with a fever or other significant symptoms, waivers of appearances will be granted, including for telephonic hearings. Please give the Division as much notice as possible in advance of the hearing by calling 602-372-1232 to address waiver before the hearing occurs. Please do not let any symptomatic or ill individuals transport or handle documents or other items that will be submitted physically in advance of telephonic hearings.
• With all hearings now telephonic, this should not be an issue, but just in case, please do NOT arrive at the Juvenile Court Center ill, and please do NOT knowingly allow anyone else to do so. Court Security has been given direction to exclude symptomatic individuals at security. Also with all hearings telephonic, signs will be posted on the exterior courtroom doors to direct anyone who arrives in person to call Division staff to advise that they are present.
• These procedures will be revisited on an ongoing basis. Please call 602-372-1232 with any questions.
Pre-Trial Practice and Management Issues
Motion Practice
• This division is currently not an e-filing division, thus motions must be filed with the Clerk’s Office and a hard copy must be provided directly to my division. It is important the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office or Court appointed counsel and other applicable agencies, be endorsed on all fillings.• Litigants are encouraged to contact my judicial assistant for information about the practices followed in this division.