OGDEN — An Ogden judge canceled a murder trial Wednesday as the delta variant forces Utah’s courts into a new round of intensified juggling to inhibit coronavirus spread while attempting to cut into a large backlog of major cases.

Second District Judge Cristina Ortega struck Brandon Parker’s Sept. 13-17 jury trial from the calendar, saying she instead would proceed with the felony trial of a suspect who is jailed. Parker is out on bail — because of the logjam caused by COVID-19, courts are giving preference to cases in which the suspects are incarcerated.

“It’s a constantly changing situation,” Ortega said during an online pretrial conference in the case of Parker, 18, who is charged with first-degree murder in the March 14, 2020, shooting of Caden Ferguson, 16, in Parker’s parents’ home.

Dean Saunders, a deputy Weber County attorney, said the trial’s cancellation offers an opportunity “to have a final discussion about whether the case can be resolved” with a plea bargain.

Saunders and Parker’s attorney, Randall Marshall, said in an April court hearing that they had failed to agree on a plea bargain that would reduce the murder charge to a manslaughter count.

Under a manslaughter conviction in criminal court, a defendant could be sentenced to an indeterminate term of up to 15 years in prison, the penalty for a second-degree felony. Marshall said in April he wanted the bargain to include transferring the case to juvenile court. Parker was 17 when the shooting occurred. If Parker’s case moved to juvenile court and he was convicted, he could only be held in custody until his 25th birthday.

Black Lives Matter of Utah raised $25,000 to bail Parker out of jail pending trial. The civil rights group and Parker’s family have argued that the shooting was accidental. According to the charging documents, Parker and Ferguson were sitting across from one another at a table, Parker having taken drugs and been drinking for several hours, when Ferguson was shot.

Ortega set another hearing for Sept. 1 to schedule new trial dates or discuss a possible plea bargain.

While the judge and the attorneys were weighing the COVID-19 impacts, Saunders said the Parker trial would be a good case for a senior judge to be assigned. Court officials have talked about bringing in retired judges to conduct trials in an effort to reduce the backlog.

But in the Ogden courthouse, just one courtroom has been set up to accommodate a socially distanced proceeding. “We have one courthouse and one courtroom no matter how many judges,” Ortega said. “We’re going to do that until the delta variant sets us backwards. It’s always changing.”

The court system relaxed its COVID-19 restrictions this spring as the coronavirus threat declined. Before, no in-person trials were allowed.

In late July, the Utah Supreme Court ordered that all court visitors and staff must wear masks while in courthouses in counties with high coronavirus rates. All Utah counties except a few rural locations have high infection rates.

Valeria Jimenez, Utah Administrative Office of the Courts spokesperson, said Thursday the courts last week also reinstated a Feb. 21 order that said all case arguments be conducted via Webex online meetings. That rule had been relaxed in the spring, clearing the way for more in-court proceedings.

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