Running the Mock Trial
The audience is seated.
The Bailiff says "All Rise. The Court of the State of New York, Land of Oz, etc. is now in session, Judge Emerald Smith Presiding. This is the case of the Land of Oz versus Dorothy Gale of Kansas for the murder of the Wicked Witch of the West."The Judges swears in the audience as the Jury and explains to them about listening to the testimony to make their judgment. (Keep this short.)
Judge sits, the audience is seated.
The judge asks for the defendant to be brought in. For drama, use play handcuffs (don't -- loose the key!)
The Judge instructs the Jury that the prosecution has the obligation to go first.
Opening remarks
The Prosecution gives the opening of the case in which they tell the Jury basically what the defendant allegedly did; that he or she is guilty and that they will prove that to them. Keep this to 3 minutes.
The Judge then tells the Jury that the Defense MAY make an opening statement but is not obligated to do so.
The Defense gives the opening, also 3 minutes, saying that they will prove that their defendant is not guilty and that they will prove it.
Calling up the witnesses
The Prosecution
The Prosecution now begins their case by calling up each of their witnesses one at a time. They will get each witness to tell their spin of what happened with the objective of making sure the defendant looks guilty of the crimes he or she is accused of committing. This is called the Direct Examination. After each of the Prosecution's witnesses have given testimony, the Defense Attorneys get to Cross Examine that witness to attempt to discredit what parts of the Direct testimony hurt their client's case as spoken by the witness.
If the prosecution thinks they can discredit the cross made by the Defense then they will re-direct the witness but only on those points that were encompassed by the cross examination. The defense can then re-cross but only on the points of the re-direct. This is not as complex as it sounds and doesn't happen that often in a mock trial, but it is good to see it in action once in a while.
When the Prosecution has gone through all their witnesses, they will say, "The Prosecution rests."
As the term says, "Innocent until proven guilty" (except in traffic court.)
The Defense is not required to say anything at all, even the defendant is allowed to just sit there and wait for the Jury to decide guilt or innocents -- few seldom do that however, as it is always good to make ones case.
The Defense
The Defense follows the prosecution as they have to try to refute the case against them. They will call up their own witnesses for direct examination and then like the previous series of prosecution witnesses, the prosecution will cross examine the Defenses' witnesses.
The last witness is usually the Defendant. The defendant is not required to give testimony however; if he or she does then they will be subject to cross examination by the prosecution.
Even if the Defendant just wants to give a statement to the Jury (or Court) they are then subject to cross examination. For your mock trial, it is best to have the Defendant give testimony.
The audience is seated.
The Bailiff says "All Rise. The Court of the State of New York, Land of Oz, etc. is now in session, Judge Emerald Smith Presiding. This is the case of the Land of Oz versus Dorothy Gale of Kansas for the murder of the Wicked Witch of the West."The Judges swears in the audience as the Jury and explains to them about listening to the testimony to make their judgment. (Keep this short.)
Judge sits, the audience is seated.
The judge asks for the defendant to be brought in. For drama, use play handcuffs (don't -- loose the key!)
The Judge instructs the Jury that the prosecution has the obligation to go first.
Opening remarks
The Prosecution gives the opening of the case in which they tell the Jury basically what the defendant allegedly did; that he or she is guilty and that they will prove that to them. Keep this to 3 minutes.
The Judge then tells the Jury that the Defense MAY make an opening statement but is not obligated to do so.
The Defense gives the opening, also 3 minutes, saying that they will prove that their defendant is not guilty and that they will prove it.
Calling up the witnesses
The Prosecution
The Prosecution now begins their case by calling up each of their witnesses one at a time. They will get each witness to tell their spin of what happened with the objective of making sure the defendant looks guilty of the crimes he or she is accused of committing. This is called the Direct Examination. After each of the Prosecution's witnesses have given testimony, the Defense Attorneys get to Cross Examine that witness to attempt to discredit what parts of the Direct testimony hurt their client's case as spoken by the witness.
If the prosecution thinks they can discredit the cross made by the Defense then they will re-direct the witness but only on those points that were encompassed by the cross examination. The defense can then re-cross but only on the points of the re-direct. This is not as complex as it sounds and doesn't happen that often in a mock trial, but it is good to see it in action once in a while.
When the Prosecution has gone through all their witnesses, they will say, "The Prosecution rests."
As the term says, "Innocent until proven guilty" (except in traffic court.)
The Defense is not required to say anything at all, even the defendant is allowed to just sit there and wait for the Jury to decide guilt or innocents -- few seldom do that however, as it is always good to make ones case.
The Defense
The Defense follows the prosecution as they have to try to refute the case against them. They will call up their own witnesses for direct examination and then like the previous series of prosecution witnesses, the prosecution will cross examine the Defenses' witnesses.
The last witness is usually the Defendant. The defendant is not required to give testimony however; if he or she does then they will be subject to cross examination by the prosecution.
Even if the Defendant just wants to give a statement to the Jury (or Court) they are then subject to cross examination. For your mock trial, it is best to have the Defendant give testimony.
Closing Statements
After all the witnesses have been heard, it is time for each side gives their summaries.
Since the Prosecution has the burden of proving guilt, they go last, that is, after the Defense.
While some consider this to be an advantage as the prosecution can to some degree refute the Defenses' closing statements, the burden of proof is harder for them in theory. While rare, if the closing crosses the line of fairness, the other side may object, usually if they refer to facts or testimony not given in the trial. Usually, this is not well received by the Judge, but they will rule according to the merits of the objection.
The Judge's charge
After the Prosecution has completed their case, the Judge will "charge" the jury as to the law in question and to vote for either guilty or not guilty according to which side has proven their case based on the evidence and testimony.
Deliberation
Simple index-sized cards saying Guilty or Not Guilty are then given out to the audience. Allow them a brief time to check off what they think and after a period of time (5-10 minutes) collect the cards, count and then give the numbers to the Judge. Do not expect a unanimous decision so you must go by the majority. In the event of a tie, then your jury is hung and the defendant is free to go and the prosecution must decide (in the real world) if they are going to re-try the case.
Sentencing
As mentioned earlier, most of these cases are capital cases so for dramatics, it is fun to sentence the guilty defendant to death. When we did our second Booth trial with a hangman's scaffolding, when we pulled the trap door, the audience made a loud gasp!
Whether you or your audience support or oppose the death penalty, this is a really good vehicle to show what an execution is like to some degree.
Not guilty is of course easy; the defendant is free to go.
Should you re-enact the crime before the trial?
For some of the trials, you may wish to create a short play-like segment to re-enact the crime so that the audience has a frame of reference to what is going on. A real trial would not usually do this, depending solely on the testimony, but doing so for a mock trial makes a lot of sense. For one thing, it is a lot of fun and gets the audience interested with conventional drama as it is more or less a play. We will include scripts or descriptions for some of the case files, but if you are familiar with the case, you may wish to write your own. This is a nice way to get more people involved in the project without over burdening the witness list.
Recording
You may wish to video tape the trial or at least take photographs of the event which will be greatly appreciated by both participants and others.
As we go forward with the case files, I will give a brief idea of what each trial was like so the reader can assess which one he or she would like to try. While you experience may be quite different than mine, I am sure you will have a lot of fun!
After all the witnesses have been heard, it is time for each side gives their summaries.
Since the Prosecution has the burden of proving guilt, they go last, that is, after the Defense.
While some consider this to be an advantage as the prosecution can to some degree refute the Defenses' closing statements, the burden of proof is harder for them in theory. While rare, if the closing crosses the line of fairness, the other side may object, usually if they refer to facts or testimony not given in the trial. Usually, this is not well received by the Judge, but they will rule according to the merits of the objection.
The Judge's charge
After the Prosecution has completed their case, the Judge will "charge" the jury as to the law in question and to vote for either guilty or not guilty according to which side has proven their case based on the evidence and testimony.
Deliberation
Simple index-sized cards saying Guilty or Not Guilty are then given out to the audience. Allow them a brief time to check off what they think and after a period of time (5-10 minutes) collect the cards, count and then give the numbers to the Judge. Do not expect a unanimous decision so you must go by the majority. In the event of a tie, then your jury is hung and the defendant is free to go and the prosecution must decide (in the real world) if they are going to re-try the case.
Sentencing
As mentioned earlier, most of these cases are capital cases so for dramatics, it is fun to sentence the guilty defendant to death. When we did our second Booth trial with a hangman's scaffolding, when we pulled the trap door, the audience made a loud gasp!
Whether you or your audience support or oppose the death penalty, this is a really good vehicle to show what an execution is like to some degree.
Not guilty is of course easy; the defendant is free to go.
Should you re-enact the crime before the trial?
For some of the trials, you may wish to create a short play-like segment to re-enact the crime so that the audience has a frame of reference to what is going on. A real trial would not usually do this, depending solely on the testimony, but doing so for a mock trial makes a lot of sense. For one thing, it is a lot of fun and gets the audience interested with conventional drama as it is more or less a play. We will include scripts or descriptions for some of the case files, but if you are familiar with the case, you may wish to write your own. This is a nice way to get more people involved in the project without over burdening the witness list.
Recording
You may wish to video tape the trial or at least take photographs of the event which will be greatly appreciated by both participants and others.
As we go forward with the case files, I will give a brief idea of what each trial was like so the reader can assess which one he or she would like to try. While you experience may be quite different than mine, I am sure you will have a lot of fun!