As I write this on Tuesday, I have just completed my role as a juror in a Hennepin County criminal trial. Never having been a juror before, I was impressed with what I experienced.

My fellow jurors were attentive, thoughtful and open-minded. During deliberations, we shared openly and listened carefully to one another. We were intent on making sure that we reinspected and intelligently and carefully reviewed and discussed the evidence, and that we understood the judge's instructions to us about our duty in making our finding.

The deliberation process was insightful and reassuring that the jury system functions as it should.

There will be those who criticize the jury's decision in the Kimberly Potter trial. But, unless you have not only watched the trial, but also re-reviewed and studied all of the evidence, you don't have the clarity, understanding and insight about the case that the group of 12 jurors has. Let's have faith in the jury system.

I would suggest changing the summary of D.J. Tice's column "The verdict of a 13th juror" (Opinion Exchange, Dec. 21) from "When does a mistake become a crime?" to "When does carelessness excuse a killing?" Changing the frame makes a difference.

A Dec. 21 letter writer uses Minnesota demographic data to refute the claim that Kimberly Potter was not being judged by a jury of her peers. If Brooklyn Center data were used, it reinforces that claim. Here are the numbers, according to worldpopulationreview.com:

Brooklyn Center is 44.49% white (Minnesota is around 83%), 29.01% Black or African American (Minnesota is around 6%) and 16.3% Asian (Minnesota is around 5%).

The article "Mpls. mayor targets youth crime surge" (Dec. 17), discussed armed carjackings and stated stunning data. The city is aware of 39 people under age 18 who have been arrested multiple times; 29 of these have been arrested five times or more. Repeat offenders are responsible for 75% of robbery arrests, including carjackings.

A former candidate for school board asked why the justice system has failed to divert those youth from crime.

The senior police officer present stated that the police needed to study the data behind the list of repeat offenders "in each individual set of circumstances and identify what those meaningful interventions are going to be."

There are four stepwise meaningful interventions:

Regarding "Livability is at stake" (Readers Write, Dec. 21), I couldn't agree more with this opinion. I lived in the North Loop for many years when there was no problem walking to Nicollet Mall, but it is positively frightening to even drive there now.

Although I am no longer a city dweller, I still have occasion to go to the Medical Arts Building. My last three visits have been frightening to say the least. The sidewalks and streets were strewn with people screaming, fighting, running through traffic, blocking the access to Target and even lying in a group on the sidewalk while apparently under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

While I am not proficient in the application of loitering laws, this behavior is not (or should not be) acceptable. While policing has been the subject of much discussion of late (and reasonably so), defunding the police and restricting them from making our streets safe is not acceptable to pedestrians or businesses. No wonder JB Hudson is closing its doors and Nicollet Mall has lost its cache. There are so many frightening events in the world now — going to the store should not be one of them. We need law and order that is fair to all and nonracist, to say the least — and we need it in all of Minneapolis, not just downtown.

Will the Minneapolis Police Department never learn that optics count? Whether or not Minneapolis police officer Tyler Klund used excessive force in subduing Damarlo West in July 2020 ("Suit accuses police of beating, coverup," Dec. 23), Klund's father, Sgt. Darcy Klund, never should have been anywhere near the review process that cleared his son.

Perhaps the retirement of Chief Medaria Arradondo is a good thing after all.

James M. Hamilton, St. Paul

Looking at the front-page photograph in Thursday's Star Tribune of crowded shoppers inside a local gift store ("Still shopping? Who isn't?"), one can easily see why Minnesota led the nation in the undesirable category of worst COVID infection rate for so long and continues to do poorly. Of the 18 people whose faces I could easily visualize, only five — or 28% — were wearing masks. I have to assume that a decent proportion (even one!) of those unmasked also feel that there is no need for immunization, making them perfect vectors for spread of the recent, highly infectious omicron variant. Too bad one had to wait until page A11 where two excellent opinion pieces provided intelligent and sensible suggestions. Where's that "primal scream" emoji when I need it?

My husband and I and two friends visited Dayton's in downtown Minneapolis last week. It's a delightful way to spend an hour. It is conveniently spaced out in the street-floor level; you can access by Nicollet or by the parking ramp. It was a pleasure to buy products made in Minnesota or the U.S. A terrific buy I found was wrapping paper with unique designs; each one of a kind. Grass Lake Furniture had a large display of furniture, trays and cutting boards. I am now the proud owner of a large cutting board crafted from hickory — one of my favorite woods.

We discovered the Indigenous art in a separate room, what used to be a main entrance to the original Dayton's. Exquisite pieces of art and jewelry were on display. We came away with a large print wall-hanging of mother and child, and a bag of hemp pasta we thought would be fun to try.

The rest of our purchases included a pair of earrings, a couple of natural scented bars of soap and some delicious chocolates from a family production in Ecuador. The only display that was a disappointment was the very large display of all things with the Dayton's name on it, but most were made in China. I was there for the "real" American art experience. It did not disappoint.

The Dayton's market is a cozy, comfortable way to spend a gray day here in the cities.

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