This Wednesday, PA’s Upper School will welcome Justice Christopher Dietzen for a very “current-events” presentation on the workings of a jury trial. With the Chauvin case as its focus, the presentation will elaborate arguments being made by the state and by the defense; address matters of jury selection and jurors’ duties; and show the role of a judge. The event will conclude with the empanelling of a student jury to render a verdict on facts from a different case that actually came before the state’s highest court.
The goal is to educate about the importance for justice of trial by jury and about the weighty responsibility of jurors. It is not to offer opinions or judgments regarding the present trial.
Justice Dietzman spent a career as a Minnesota trial lawyer, culminating in service from 2008-2016 on the Minnesota Supreme Court.