It was the highest-profile criminal trial of 2023, resulting in the second-degree murder conviction of a Nemah man in the inexplicable slaying of his identical twin brother.

We had 42 stories about it, from full-scale trial coverage to earlier short briefs updating progress in the case. The two most thorough ones were from the trial itself, by ace freelancer Jeff Clemens:

• tinyurl.com/Shotwell-trial-week-1

• tinyurl.com/Shotwell-trial-week-2

Beyond the fascinating details of the case, it was unique for us in that one of our reporters, Brandon Cline, was selected as an alternate juror. This meant he heard all the evidence from the jury’s perspective but would only participate in deliberations if more than one of the original 12 dropped out or were disqualified for some reason. As it happened, although one was removed (tinyurl.com/Shotwell-juror), Cline still was not among the panel who decided Shotwell’s guilt or innocence.

In last week’s edition, Cline told about the process of jury selection: tinyurl.com/Trial-experience-part-1. In the Nov. 15 edition, he will talk with one of the jurors who participated in deliberations for a behind-the-scenes look at how and why the panel decided as it did and what that was like.

It’s quite unusual for a local reporter to be selected for a jury, particularly in such a prominent case. News people are normally expected to be objective observers of such events, not participants. Attorneys usually want to avoid any chance that someone with inside knowledge might influence the outcome by blabbing to news colleagues, or that a juror with independent information might steer their peers in some other way.

Cline, as it happens, rarely covers criminal cases. About this one, he only knew what he read in the paper, like other potential jurors. His experiences in the case make for interesting reading and may help dispel some of the negativity that accompanies getting a jury notice in the mail. Although it included some tedious waiting around, his overall experience was quite positive. (Thanks to our company’s attitudes toward public service, he was fully compensated for his time — something definitely not true for everyone.)

Although I’m both a career journalist and an attorney, I also had a chance to be on a jury — a fairly innocuous one-day case in Wahkiakum County. I mostly enjoyed it. Many years before, my mother served on a jury in which one of the lead attorneys was Gerry Spence, a famous buckskin-jacketed trial lawyer. Despite our family’s fraught relationship with Spence — he beat my dad in a 1950s election — she considered her jury duty an illuminating and entertaining lesson in a fundamental aspect of citizenship.

The Chinook Observer is a rare local news source that devotes our time and your money to covering the criminal justice system in depth. We couldn’t do it without you. Thanks!