By Joseph Ax and Karen Freifeld 

NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Manhattan's courthouses limped back to life Monday despite confusion and technological problems after nearly a week without power in the wake of superstorm Sandy.

Civil and criminal state courthouses in lower Manhattan reopened Monday on a limited basis, while the federal court nearby also opened for the first time since Sandy churned through the region, bringing destructive flooding and widespread power outages.

But the bankruptcy courthouse for the Southern District of New York remained closed with no heat or connectivity. A spokeswoman for Manhattan's federal court system said there is no timetable for reopening.

The Beaver Street headquarters for the Office of Court Administration, which oversees the operations of the state judiciary, also remained shut down, likely for weeks.

Gail Prudenti, the state's chief administrative judge, said officials had redeployed to courthouses across the region most convenient to their homes.

"We are slowly and incrementally" getting the courts back online, she said.

On Long Island, district courts in Hauppauge and Patchogue reopened, leaving only a few courts in the state still closed.

The phone system of the state courts throughout Manhattan was still having problems, forcing officials to set up temporary phone numbers for courthouses, clerks' offices and administrative staff.

Manhattan Criminal Court, which handles arraignments and misdemeanor cases, was fully operational, according to Barry Kamins, the administrative judge for the New York City Criminal Court. Due to a miscommunication, however, the corrections department delivered some of the wrong prisoners for court hearings Monday, Kamins said.

In state Supreme Court, which oversees felony cases, incarcerated defendants will not be produced until Wednesday.

Grand jurors were told to report Monday. But with courts scheduled to be closed on Tuesday for Election Day and with many residents still dealing with Sandy's aftermath, state and federal court officials in Manhattan decided to wait until Wednesday to impanel new trial juries.

Nevertheless, hundreds of new jurors showed up Monday morning at both the state and federal courthouses only to be told to go home.

"We don't even know what's going on," said one court officer at 100 Centre Street.

"BACK TO NORMAL"

Monday also represented the first day back to work for court employees whose lives were disrupted by the storm.

Devin Accetta, a court officer with six years of experience, spent Sunday emptying several feet of water from her flooded Staten Island home.

"All of my friends helped me throw my whole life into the back of a garbage truck," she said. "I cried all day."

Accetta and her husband rescued her mother and father Monday night, as the storm hit and seawater rushed into their neighborhood at a frightening speed, rising three feet in 12 minutes. Their truck barely escaped through the flooded streets, stalling several times before making it to higher ground.

"I need to get my life back to normal," she said of her decision to come to work.

Several other court officers live on Staten Island, including two who had to be rescued at the height of the storm, Accetta said. At least one resident in her neighborhood, an elderly man, died.

"People have put the interests of the justice system before their own personal interest," Prudenti said. "We have people coming to work who have lost houses."

DEADLINES EXTENDED

The historic week-long shutdown prompted Governor Andrew Cuomo last week to issue an executive order suspending speedy trial and other deadlines in criminal, civil and family cases.

Nevertheless, attorneys from the Legal Aid Society claimed defendants charged with minor offenses like trespassing may have been jailed for too long because of the storm.

Under state law, prosecutors have five days to file an information to corroborate certain misdemeanor complaints. The statute, 170.70 of the state penal code, was not listed in Cuomo's order but gives judges the right to extend the deadline for good cause.

In several hearings Monday, the society argued that their clients should be released under the law, but prosecutors successfully convinced judges that the storm warranted an extension.

The power outage also forced judges and prosecutors to use their creativity in handling court hearings that could not wait.

In federal court, judges held conferences under dim lamplight, while arraignments in the city's criminal court proceeded in darkened courtrooms.

The Manhattan district attorney's office also was crippled last week, with the server down and prosecutors' Blackberries not functioning.

Karen Friedman-Agnifilo, chief of the trial division, helped run the office from her upstate home, where she had power.

"We did a lot of stuff by text and personal email," she said.

But not everything could be done by telecommuting.

For arraignments last week, prosecutors used carbon paper to handwrite between 50 and 100 complaints a day until a generator was hooked up Friday.

"The biggest logistical hurdle was food," said Friedman-Agnifilo. "Nothing was open."

The solution, at least for one day: Chief Assistant District Attorney Daniel Alonso delivered pizza.

(Additional reporting by Casey Sullivan)

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