LOUDON COUNTY, Tenn. — Janey Johnson's brother was murdered in Loudon County in 2017. She didn't get justice until 2022.
In 2019, the Loudon County Courthouse burned. Since then, the building has remained closed. When the courthouse caught fire, Tennessee law required jurisdictions to hold court in the county seat.
Loudon County District Attorney General Russell Johnson said he lobbied the state legislature to change the law, so they could have trials in Lenoir City or Roane County.
General Johnson said the law passed in July 2020, when courts were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. After a nearly two-year delay, Johnson said Loudon County could hold court again, but they had to fit in where they could.
Most of the county's jury trials now happen in Lenoir City, a courtroom made for General Sessions cases, but not to hold jury trials.
Johnson said that the courtroom has safety issues. The jury sits just feet away from the defense counsel table, where the accused usually sits. The outside of the courtroom doesn't have a sally gate, so defendants who are in jail are transferred to the courthouse in the open air.
"It's obviously not a perfect setup," Johnson said. "It's not even a good setup."
The City of Loudon has a makeshift courtroom, but Johnson said the county can't hold jury trials in that room. Steve Harrelson, the Loudon County Court Clerk, said the county is disposing of more cases now than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, Loudon County courts closed 1,694 cases, and in 2018, they closed 1,555 cases, according to state data.
However, Johnson said that doesn't mean the courts are working efficiently.
"We're probably modifying some offers and making downward offers on cases to get cases resolved," Johnson said.
Janey Johnson said she waited four years for one of her brother's killers to be convicted of murder.
"It was horrible," she said. "It really was."