‘Ideal situation’

After being in Albert Lea just three months, new Assistant Freeborn County Attorney Paige Starkey already has 85 open cases.

Starkey, 26, hails from Kasson-Mantorville, another smaller town that she said Albert Lea reminds her of. She graduated from Kasson-Mantorville High School before going to Doane College in Crete, Neb., where she majored in political science and minored in English. She then attended law school at the University of Minnesota, where she concentrated on criminal justice and graduated in 2013.

Both during her time as a law student and for about a year after graduating, Starkey was a law clerk for the public defender’s office in Ramsey County and then for Judge Tamara Garcia in Hennepin County. Law clerks research and write cases and can also appear in court.

Ask Starkey when she knew she wanted to pursue a law career, and she won’t be able to pinpoint an exact moment, other than knowing she wanted to be a prosecutor since she was an undergraduate. Asking her when she knew she wanted to pursue criminal law is a different story.

Starkey volunteered at domestic violence shelters while in college, something she said had a profound effect on the area of law she decided to study. Working hands-on with those affected by such situations has her now handling criminal cases in Freeborn County.

Starkey said she hasn’t brought a case to trial yet, but that will be changing soon. When she is in the courtroom, she said she’ll prosecute adult criminal cases, along with some juvenile cases as well.

She said she’ll most likely have senior attorneys sit in on cases as she settles in to her role as assistant county attorney, but she will be handling the majority of the caseloads herself. So far she said the majority of the cases she has seen tend to be related to drugs or domestic violence, and from what she has heard from her colleagues that’s a generally accurate representation of the area.

Starkey called her job here an “ideal situation,” as the position was created before she was hired and that she didn’t come in as anyone’s replacement. She said this makes all of her cases her own and she gets to start from the beginning instead of coming into the middle of someone else’s caseload.

“I’m really fortunate to have this opportunity,” she said.

She said she’s been impressed with the open lines of communication between law enforcement and the Freeborn County Attorney’s Office. The cases she has been working on have all benefited from working with both Albert Lea police officers and the Freeborn County sheriff’s deputies. She said cases originate from law enforcement officials receiving calls, which they then investigate and report on, and then those reports are given to the Attorney’s Office for review. Starkey called this process “a good strategy.”

Starkey moved to Albert Lea for the job as assistant county attorney. She brings a husband, Paul, and their two dogs, Thor and Axl, and a cat. Having been born in Nebraska and living there until moving to Minnesota in the seventh grade, Starkey said she’s a lifelong Nebraska Cornhuskers football fan.

Starkey said she has been welcomed and looks forward to being a part of the community. She said her family’s ready to build lives here.

 

Paige Starkey 

Age: 26

Address: Albert Lea

Livelihood: assistant county attorney

Family: husband, Paul, two dogs and a cat

Interesting fact: Starkey admitted to becoming a Green Bay Packers fan since meeting her husband, Paul.