Jury duty

Jury check-in


Jury check-in takes place at the Rice County Courthouse at:
218 NW 3rd Street, third floor
Faribault, MN 55021

For more information, call the Jury Office at 507-497-7134.

Map of Faribault

How a jury is chosen


After you have reported for jury duty, the jury panel is sent to the courtroom for jury selection. A jury of 12 people will be selected for felony trials, and six people for gross misdemeanor, misdemeanor and civil trials. The judge in the courtroom will explain the case and introduce the lawyers and other participants. As part of jury selection, the judge and lawyers will question the prospective jury members to determine if anyone has knowledge of the case, a personal interest in it or any feelings that might make it hard to be impartial. This process is called “voir dire”, a phrase meaning to speak the truth.

Questions asked during voir dire may seem personal, but should be answered completely and honestly. The questions are not intended to embarrass anyone but are used to make sure that members of the jury do not have opinions or past experiences which might prevent an impartial decision.

Challenges


During voir dire the lawyers may ask the judge to excuse a juror from sitting on the jury. This is called “challenging a juror.” There are two types of challenges: a challenge for cause and a peremptory challenge.

A challenge for cause means the lawyer has a specific reason for thinking that a juror would not be able to be impartial. For example, the case may involve a driving under the influence of alcohol. If a juror had been in an accident with a drunk driver and was still upset about it, the defense attorney could ask that the juror be excused for that reason. There is no limit to the number of jurors who may be excused for cause.

Peremptory challenges do not require the lawyers to state any reason for excusing a juror. Peremptory challenges are intended to allow lawyers, both prosecution and defense, to do their best to assure that the trial is fair.