Minnesota Supreme Court allows recently incarcerated to serve on juries

Minnesotans who are on probation or supervised release for felony convictions will soon be allowed to serve on juries following a recent decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Two years ago the Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz approved a measure that allows people recently freed from prison to vote, even if they are not finished with the supervised release portions of their sentences.

Because the Judicial Branch uses the state’s list of eligible voters to identify prospective jurors, the Minnesota Supreme Court sought to harmonize the rules for voting and jury service. The court revised the state’s General Rules of Practice and the Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure to allow the recently incarcerated to serve on juries in criminal and civil cases as well as grand juries.

In an order, Chief Justice Natalie Hudson cited comments from the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, writing that the change "would help facilitate successful reintegration and better public safety."

The Anoka County Attorney’s Office is against the new rules, arguing in written opposition that “murderers, predatory sex offenders, and known gang members” might cause other jurors to withhold their honest views in criminal and civil cases and compromise confidential information that prosecutors share with a grand jury.

But Hudson countered that those fears are unwarranted, and noted that under the existing rules, people convicted of even serious felonies may serve on juries after they’ve completed their sentences.

“The issue before us is not whether a person with a felony conviction should be eligible for jury service, but rather when a person with a felony conviction should be eligible for jury service,” Hudson writes.

Hudson also cited supportive comments from the Minnesota State Bar Association, which noted that the new rule does not guarantee that everyone with a felony conviction who is on supervised release would serve on a jury because like all potential jurors, they’re subject to peremptory challenges and challenges for cause.

But in a dissent, Justice Anne McKeig writes that expanding the jury pool in this way will slow the selection process and risks "further alienating individuals who already may distrust the criminal justice system." Justice Gordon Moore III joined with McKeig in her dissent.

McKeig adds that attorneys will spend more time “engaging in uncomfortable and difficult questioning of prospective jurors on probation or supervised release about their felony criminal history, their compliance (or lack thereof) with conditions of their probation or supervised release, and the effect of their experiences with the criminal justice system on their ability to be impartial.”

She also notes that Fifth Amendment issues could arise if attorneys ask potential jurors if they’re violating the terms of their probation, and that including recently incarcerated people on grand juries could result in prosecutors revealing sensitive information to a grand juror who has a connection to the person being investigated.

The new rules take effect July 1. They do not affect federal courts, which generally prohibit people with felony convictions from serving on juries.

Walz, a DFLer, appointed five of the seven justices to the state’s highest court. His predecessor, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton, appointed the other two.

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