For Immediate Release

Kent County District Court Expands Courtroom Hours

(Chestertown, Md. – October 6, 2015) Beginning Monday, November 16, 2015, the District Court in Kent County will expand its courtroom hours to three days a week. To accommodate the enhancement of service, judges will now sit on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, instead of Tuesdays and Thursdays. The new schedule will make additional court time available for peace and protective order hearings and will allow bail review hearings to be held more promptly for detained defendants.

The hours of operation of the Office of the District Court Clerk will remain the same: Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.  Also, as always, District Court commissioners are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week throughout the year.  When both the Office of the District Court Clerk and the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court are closed, District Court Commissioners may hear petitions for peace and protective orders and determine whether to issue interim peace or protective orders pending a court hearing.

"The expanded courtroom hours will help us address the county’s caseload more effectively and make sure people who need to appear before a judge, say for bail review hearings, can do so in a more timely way," said Judge Bonnie G. Schneider, Administrative Judge for District 3, which includes Caroline, Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot counties. 

"We have worked closely with our justice partners, including the State’s Attorney, Public Defender, the Sheriff for Kent County, state, local, and Department of Natural Resources police departments, and the local Maryland Department of Parole and Probation office to make this schedule change.  We thank them for their help to better serve Kent County," Judge Schneider said.

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