AP Government on Trial!

Shadaly Naranjo cross examining cadet Adrian Gama for the prosecution

Shadaly Naranjo cross examining cadet Adrian Gama for the prosecution

Mr. Eagle takes the lead stepping off the bus first while students take off their seat belts and one by one step onto the sidewalk. For most high school seniors the image of arriving at the Cook County Jail and Courthouse is a thought they wouldn’t want to face, but for this class of AP Government students, they were prepared not to defend their own innocence but to present a case in front of an actual judge in an actual courtroom.

On January 18th, Mr. Eagle took the class of AP Government on an unprecedented trip for MLA to the Cook County courthouse, not just to watch or learn about real criminal proceedings but to conduct one themselves. In a creative blend of legal knowledge and roleplay the class was divided into two teams, the defense and the prosecution with each student taking on the role of an actual person from the criminal court case of U.S. V Dominique where the defendant Dominique Stephan was accused of 1st-degree murder after shooting her allegedly abusive husband in his sleep.

          The students had a week to prepare scripts for themselves and fellow classmates working tirelessly to either find the defendant, the person being accused of the crime or to convict her of murder in front of the Honorable Judge Diana Kenworthy in a real courtroom environment. Daniela Silvestre perfectly described what the students were feeling on the days and bus trip leading up to the trial when she stated, “ I was feeling all these sorts of emotions as I didn’t know what to expect at first, but then I was excited to see how my classmates and I would do during the trial.” 

The students also unexpectedly received help not just from Mr. Eagle, a former defense attorney, on how to present their arguments and evidence but also from current lawyers Assistant State Attorney Gus Hernandez, and Assistant Public Defender Martha Soto. Hernandez guiding the prosecution on how to make their arguments urging them to see the defendant as a heartless and cold-blooded woman that didn’t act on defense of herself and her children but out of the merciless satisfaction of taking a life. While Assistant Public Defender Martha Soto encouraged the defense to convince the judge that their client was a mother left with only one option to escape a cruel and manipulative monster.

Once trial was in session, tension grew with both sides making hard-hitting points yet there were brief moments of levity where the students added their own bit of flair and character in how they questioned witnesses and spoke to the judge in their opening and closing statements with the trial lasting hours, such as Juan Tinoco’s opening statement for the defense featuring him lying on the floor before speaking to the job to show how defenseless the victim was.

 I was feeling all these sorts of emotions as I didn’t know what to expect at first, but then I was excited to see how my classmates and I would do during the trial.” – 1st Lieutenant Daniela Silvestre

Cadet Melanie Garcia acting as cross-examiner for the witness being played by cadet Ivan Sierra. The defense can be seen on the right with the Honorable Judge Diana Kenworthy taking notes.

After all, was said and done the judge ruled in favor of finding the defendant not guilty as the prosecution groaned in disappointment and the defense breathed a sigh of relief. All the cadets showed immense effort in presenting their arguments something that the assistant attorneys and the judge clearly saw and was “pleasantly surprised by” according to Mr. Eagle.  The week of preparation and class lectures in AP Government truly did teach the cadets something about criminal proceedings and how the system attempts to secure justice and as Mr. Eagle stated, “The experience went so well I’m sure the students will return to court next year.  I know the judge and the two lawyers who helped, Gus and Martha, loved working with the cadets and want to do it again”. The students he was referring to being next year’s AP Government class

The MLA AP Government class truly did show dedication, commitment, and hard work that day, and will be an experience that no one will soon forget about and perhaps even set a couple of students off in the direction of becoming attorneys themselves attempting to secure justice in the future.