On May 2, Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee visited the students of Brenda Mize’s Fifth Grade Class at Seymour Intermediate School in Seymour, Tenn., to teach them about the court system and help them prepare for their class mock trial.
The class mock trial focused on a question that lingers within all of us: whether Humpty Dumpty’s fall from the wall was merely a terrible accident or a sinister murder.
Immediately prior to the proceedings, Justice Lee explained to the class the basics of how a jury trial is conducted, the important role the jury plays in the process by determining the facts, and the work of the judge to apply the law to the facts as found by the jury.
With their class room arranged to resemble a court room, all of the students then assumed their parts as the judge, bailiff, attorneys, witnesses, defendant, and jurors. The mock trial resulted in a hung jury, as the jurors were unable to arrive at a unanimous verdict -- giving the class firsthand experience with the difficult challenges that face court systems in the effort to administer justice.
