Law 12 has always been one of the most popular electives amongst grade twelve students. The mock trial is definitely one of the highlights of the class. Students are all assigned roles for the trial. These roles are lawyers, witnesses, and investigators who become jury members when the trial begins. For weeks the students have been preparing themselves for the day of the trial. Lawyers working hard on their case, witnesses preparing their witness statements, and investigators creating all of the evidence, contributed to a successful learning experience.
Every year it is an impaired driving case which is created so it is difficult for the defendant to be found guilty or not guilty. This all depends on how the class uses the information. Although it is the same case for every law class, no trial is the same as students all think differently as to how to use and organize the information and evidence. Having two law classes doing the same trial at the same time is very interesting because of how different the trials can turn out. In one class the accused could be found guilty however in the other class not guilty.
The trial lasted five long days in which lawyers questioned all seven of the witnesses while the jury looked on. “I was nervous while up on the stand,” said grade 12 student Kyle Ricarse. “It was very intimidating to be asked tough questions with both sets of lawyers trying to pull information out of you.” The law classes have already gone on two fieldtrips this year to courthouses to listen in on real life court cases to get a better understanding of the law in the real world. Many students enjoy the mock trial as it replicated very well on how a real life court case would be.
After two long trials for both blocks, the verdict was not guilty for both classes. There were many reasons as to why the jury voted the way they did. The police officer who arrested the accused performed a breathalyzer test but it was proven that he was not authorized to do the test. The accused had a dentist appointment a few hours before the crash and the doctor gave him too much anesthetic which could of affected his driving. Although the prosecution lawyers had a lot of evidence of their own, after the jury deliberated they found the accused not guilty.
