HEART OF STEELE

For the first time in my adult life, I was called last week for something many, many people work to avoid: jury duty.

I get it–unless you’re selected to serve, it’s a little like watching paint dry with a couple dozen people who are just as bored as you are. But since this was a first for me, I kept my eyes and ears open, and I learned a few things about the judicial system and about our community.

What struck me first was the genuinely diverse pool of Steele County residents. The jury room held people of different ages and ethnicities, some dressed for white-collar jobs and others in jeans and work boots.

After signing in, we all received a booklet of instructions, later recapped in a short video we watched while we waited to move into the courtroom. Last Monday’s snowstorm (such as it was) meant we started later in the day, which probably shortened our wait time. It seemed like only 15 or 20 minutes before we all had our juror numbers and were filing into the courtroom.

What happened next was… well, kind of fun.

Judge Karen Duncan, the defense and prosecuting attorneys all had opportunities to ask us quite a few questions that centered around our willingness to do one thing: follow the law. Could we put our personal biases aside? Had we experienced a situation like the case in question?

When Judge Duncan asked whether we knew anyone associated with the case, lots of hands went up, which is not surprising in a small rural community. Still, I didn’t go in expecting to know both the judge and one of the other jurors, both of whom I had interviewed for the Times.

I did worry that I might know the defendant or have information about the alleged crime from a court story we’d published. But the arrest happened last year, and honestly, I have trouble remembering what I wrote for last week’s paper–and I don’t work the crime beat.

Ultimately, I was dismissed for Monday’s case. I would imagine knowing the judge might have been a strike against me. None of us served for a case set Wednesday morning; just before the trial, the defendant took a plea.

But I do not count a minute of that time wasted. As Judge Duncan explained, not being called is no reflection on the juror, it’s just about the process of ensuring a fair trial. And sometimes it takes the pressure of a jury to convince a defendant to take a plea offer.

What made my heart happy was finally understanding the importance of doing this thing I dreaded for so many years. Jury duty is like voting, military service, and paying taxes. It’s the price we pay for citizenship–and a small one, at that.