Junior high students participate in mock trial, tour jail
Ninth grade students from Pauls Valley Junior High School had the opportunity to experience the legal system firsthand at the Garvin County Courthouse last week. Students split into two groups during an Oct. 29 field trip, with one group participating in a mock trial and another taking a tour of the Garvin County Detention Center in the courthouse annex.
Students participating in the mock trial, had the opportunity to “witness” a crime from the moment they walked into the courthouse and filed past one of the court clerk’s staff members in the hallway dressed in a flashy disguise and using a laptop computer. Later, as District Judge Leah Edwards spoke to students in the third-floor courtroom it was “discovered” her distinctively marked laptop had been stolen.
As that information sunk in, students began to connect the dots and describe the woman they had seen on the first floor. The suspect was apprehended in short order and the trial began, with students serving as prosecutors, defense attorneys and the jury. Students were assisted in the task by Assistant District Attorney Madison Homer and local attorney Jacob Heskett.
As the jury deliberated, Edwards spoke to students about the work court reporters do in the courtroom and the current shortage in that field nationally. Students were able to see a demonstration of the stenotype machine court reporters use for shorthand.
After a verdict was rendered, both groups of students gathered in the courtroom to hear from Associate District Judge Laura McClain and staff from the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs regarding the work they do, their role in handling juvenile cases in Garvin County and situations and choices encountered daily by students today as they navigate using the internet, social media and other technology.
“The decisions you make have consequences,” McClain told students. “The choices you make every day impact your life and your future.”
Students also heard from State Representative Cynthia Roe, who spoke to them about the role the legislature plays in making laws and how that works in tandem with the judicial branch of government.
More than 100 freshman students participated in the field trip.
