Lincoln – Lancaster County Court will be holding after hours “Night Court” sessions on the evenings of May 30 and June 27.

These sessions will be held on the second floor of the Lancaster County Courthouse in Lancaster County Courtroom No. 24 and will run from 4:30 to 7 p.m. on those two days, according to a Nebraska Judicial Branch release.

The purpose of these additional court sessions is to provide greater access to the justice system to those individuals who cannot miss work to attend regular court sessions without risking termination of their employment. It will also allow individuals that watch children during regular business hours to arrange for a family member who is off work to watch their children while they attend court.

This pilot project is conducted in conjunction with the Lancaster County Court, Lancaster County Attorney’s Office, Lincoln City Attorney’s Office and Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.

Only non-custody matters will be dealt with and heard during these special court sessions. Matters that can be addressed during these ses­sions will include misdemeanor non-custody cases, misdemeanor warrants and pleas, felony non-custody docket calls on preliminary hearing waivers in felony cases not yet bound over to the District Court and felony non-custody mat­ters where the defendants will be pleading to charges that are being reduced to misdemeanor offenses.

There will be no evidentiary hearing, no trials, no preliminary hearings, no bond reviews of indi­viduals in custody and no individu­als in custody transported for hear­ings for these sessions.

Attorneys are encouraged to file motions ahead of these dates re­questing hearings at these special sessions. Doing this ahead of time will assist the court with schedul­ing and staffing. Individuals who are not represented by an attorney may call the Criminal/Traffic Desk of the Court Clerk’s office at 402-441-8959 for instructions on what they need to do to set their case for one of these special sessions.

– Nebraska Judicial Branch