While Coupeville seniors were debating the Fourth Amendment in courtroom one, eight grade history students were in courtroom two trying a criminal case.
Three classes of teacher Diane Eelkema’s Washington State History class finished up a lesson on the branches of government by enacting a mock trial for a man accused of robbery.
Eelkema said the exercise was a great way for the students to get real life experience in many areas, including how a courtroom works, and practice in public speaking.
“For some it is the first, and hopefully only, time in court,” she said, “unless they are on jury duty.”
The public speaking experience will serve them well for the exit interviews they must take to show they are ready to move on to high school.
While the mock prosecutors and defenders polished their public speaking and debate skills, the mock jurors got to experience how serious their responsibility was, Eelkema said.
The students spent two weeks preparing for their day in court, choosing parts, writing questions and preparing the defense and prosecution.
The task was divided into three writing assignments, developing questions for the witnesses, writing a closing statement, and choosing what role they wanted to play, and defending that decision.
The trials were presided over by Coupeville lawyers Craig Platt and Mimi Buescher, who donated their time.
“This speaks to how the people in our community cooperate with the schools and students,” Eelkema said. “I can’t thank them enough.”
In the last trial of the day Chelsea Krouse and Emily Norris defended Josh Edwards as “Manny,” the accused. Matt Widdison and Brad Vaght argued for the prosecution.
Both sides focused on the defendant’s character, rather than motive, opportunity or method. “Manny’s” mother, aka Eelkema, took the stand to tearfully testify that her son “wouldn’t take a cookie without asking.”
The prosecution tried to paint “Manny” as a man with a gambling problem who would do anything for money, even if it was to pay his family’s medical bills.
“Judge” Buescher interjected occasionally to direct their questions, or overrule or sustain objections.
In the end, the trial resulted in a hung jury. The student jury, which had only a few minutes to deliberate, was not convinced that Manny was guilty. This Manny was lucky — in the first two trials he was found guilty.
Defense attornies Krouse and Norris said they learned a lot about the legal system from the exercise, but prosecuting attorney Widdison said he would have liked to see a “less biased” jury.
