Bel Air officials began preparing months ago for the trial of the Salvadoran man charged in the August 2023 killing of Rachel Morin, a Bel Air mother of five. They assumed the trial would gain national attention, as the Morin case has over the last 19 months, and cause disruption in the small town of about 11,000.

The trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection at 8:30 a.m.,Tuesday; a pretrial motions conference was held at the courthouse Monday.

Planning meetings to coordinate road closures and ensure barricades were in place around the circuit court this week included members of the Bel Air Police Department, the Department of Public Works, and the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, according to Town Administrator Edward Hopkins.

Monday morning started much like any other day in Bel Air, with just a few road closures near the courthouse. Parking remained plentiful in the garage and nearby lots, while pedestrian traffic was typical for a weekday.

“The two streets primarily affected have offices on both of them — maybe a small business here and there — but I think we will probably see heavier foot traffic downtown,” Hopkins said.

To prepare businesses for the potential increase in visitors, Hopkins said town officials notified the Bel Air Downtown Alliance, a nonprofit that partners with town government to maintain and support Bel Air’s small businesses.

“It’s hard to predict how this is really going to affect everyone,” said Jenny Erhard, executive director of the Downtown Alliance. “I think our businesses are just trying to be as flexible as possible.”

Erhard stated that all businesses plan to maintain normal hours as the trial unfolds over the next two weeks. To her knowledge, none have taken significant precautions for a potential surge in customers, as they don’t want to “put the cart before the horse.” Instead, she said, “They’re just going to wait and see what happens, and then plan accordingly.”

The trial of Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 24, of El Salvador, is expected to last two weeks. Martinez-Hernandez was charged with rape and murder in the killing of 37-year-old Rachel Morin on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in August 2023.

In a message posted to social media March 24, Bel Air Police warned that the “high-profile criminal case” would impact both vehicle and pedestrian traffic along Main Street. Police announced that Courtland and Office streets, between Bond and Main streets, will be closed during courthouse hours, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 pm.

“Local businesses will not be impacted and will remain accessible to customers,” the post stated. That appeared to hold true early Monday as most businesses opened between 9 and 10 a.m., while a pre-trial conference commenced inside the courthouse at 9:30 a.m.

“Right now, it has been pretty normal, no extra staff on hand,” said Mo Tacka, a barista at CoffeeBar Bel Air, one block away from the courthouse. “Our manager is here all day just in case things get crazy later, though.”

Directly across the street from the trial, Sunny Day Café owner John Smoudianis described business as “normal, nothing out of the ordinary.” While noting that the café isn’t particularly large, he emphasized that there’s always enough staff to manage any rush.

And less than a five-minute walk away, Addy Dean, whose family owns Bel Air Liquors, said they don’t expect an uptick in foot traffic at the store. Instead, she worries that regular customers may steer clear to avoid the anticipated congestion on Main Street.

“Some people are going to try avoiding downtown Bel Air, so are they going to be going somewhere else?” Dean said. “But it’s definitely necessary to help with this entire process.

“It could be that the people coming to the trial need a little hit of dopamine, so they go and have a great lunch at Sunny Day Café or they go into one of the shops just to lighten their day, just ever so slightly, on what is otherwise a very, very sad circumstance for Harford County, for the Morin family,” she said.

Erhard anticipates that Bel Air’s small businesses will “pull together” over the next two weeks and support each other as they adapt to changing circumstances, as they typically do during special events. “I don’t expect this instance to be any different,” she said.

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