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'Crime' in the classroom
[Times photos: Michael Rondou]
Guidance counselor Saunya Talley, the defendant, reacts to the verdict handed down by the six-member jury after a two-hour trial. Talley was found guilty of assault with an eraser which she allegedly threw at a teacher who had failed her son. Allison Wickman, 13, left, was Talley’s defense attorney. |
By JESSICA RICHARDSON
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 2, 2001
A dramatic "assault'' on a teacher becomes a fascinating lesson on the legal system.
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ST. PETERSBURG -- "Objection, your honor. Leading!"
Not the words one would expect to hear coming from the mouth of a 14-year-old, at least not on a regular basis. But it wasn't so unusual recently because my eighth-grade class at St. Raphael Catholic School undertook an in-depth study of the legal system.
It all started during religion class one day. We all were peacefully finishing up our projects on martyrs when, without warning, a masked assailant ran into the room armed with an eraser! She ran up to our teacher, Mr. Holmes, and screamed "You flunked my son!" Then she threw the eraser at him and ran out of the classroom.
Everyone was in shock; nothing like this had ever happened before. There were so many questions: Why would someone want to hurt Mr. Holmes? Who was she? What did Mr. Holmes ever do to her, other than flunk her son?
We had our suspicions about who was under the mask. Mrs. Gulliver? Mrs. Talley? I know, Mrs. Blackwood! No, the perpetrator was shorter and had longer hair. Everyone had an opinion about why this happened, but when would we ever know for sure?
During guidance class.
We were in the middle of a lesson that would turn into a mock trial. After we settled into guidance class, real-life defense attorneys Patrick Calcutt and Kathleen Calcutt started explaining and asking us questions, including what happened in religion class and whether anything unusual had happened before the incident.
Next we were assigned our roles. I got to be one of the prosecuting attorneys. Immediately the police (classmates Harold Marrero, Marcello Smyth, Jason Spitzer and Brittany Charbonneau) started their investigation by interviewing the witnesses. By the end of class, the police already had a list of suspects, and the suspense was mounting.
Bradley Hartley, 14, who was the judge for the trial, receives advice on how to conduct a courtroom from Nancy Rutland, who is a real lawyer.
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The following week we went to the Pinellas County Criminal court complex in Clearwater to observe county Judge Michael Andrews. It was so cool to watch him work! He was conducting first appearances via closed-circuit TV and pretrial appearances in the courtroom. When he was finished, he met us in his chambers to talk about our class case.
When we got back to the classroom, we continued our preparations for the trial. Prosecuting attorney Laurie McNamara helped Joey Yanchunis (the other prosecutor) and me get our case together. We started by interviewing the police about what evidence they had collected. Suddenly, during one of our interviews, the alleged assailant showed up again. It was Mrs. Talley, our guidance teacher! The police chased her, but because another teacher who was not aware of the class project yelled at the police to stop running in the hallway, she got away. Eventually police had gathered enough evidence to bring battery charges against her.
We became busier and busier as the date of the trial approached: We had opening arguments to write, witness testimony to review and closings to practice. We hardly had time to eat, but it was well worth it. On the day of the trial we were ready to put Mrs. Talley away for a long time!
I awoke in an anxious state, with tons of new questions about the trial running through my head, but I got myself together and got to school just a little late. During lunch, the trial was all anyone could talk about. When lunch was over, it was time to get ready for the trial, what we all had been waiting and preparing for five weeks for.
We headed for court, this time the Pinellas County circuit courthouse in downtown St. Petersburg. This time we would not just be watching but actually participating, so it was even more exciting. When it was time to start, Joey and I got even more nervous because we learned the police had forgotten to bring the eraser that had been thrown at Mr. Holmes and the jacket that he was wearing at the time of the crime, the physical evidence! Before, we thought we had a solid case, but now it would be hard to prove that Mr. Holmes had ever been assaulted.
The defense had a very strong case; they were prepared and there was no physical evidence, butwe were in luck. The witnesses were great, even the ones who were testifying for the defense. In our closing arguments we both stated that Mrs. Talley had a motive to lie, whereas the students who were testifying against her did not because they had nothing to lose.
When student Ryan Waterbury took the stand he testified that Mrs. Talley was in Room Eight teaching language arts the entire time, but when I cross-examined him I asked if he always paid complete attention in class. "Uh, well, um, sometimes," he said. The entire courtroom burst into laughter. "Order in the court!" commanded our classmate judge, the Honorable Brad Hartley. I thought our chances of a guilty verdict had definitely improved.
Allison Wickman, 13, makes her opening statement in defense of her client who is accused of “assault.”
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It wasn't over yet, though. The jury still had to deliberate. While they were gone, we polled the audience to see what they thought the verdict should be, and the majority said they believed that Mrs. Talley was not guilty of assaulting Mr. Holmes.
What we did have in our favor was something real prosecutors don't: Most of the jurors also had witnessed the assault. When the jurors returned, their verdict was guilty. Mrs. Talley was convicted of battery on a school official and aggravating the battery by wearing a mask over her face. She was sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service with probation, and she had to apologize in writing.
Even though not everything went the way it should have (those matters of the jury witnessing the crime and the police forgetting to bring the evidence), it was still a fabulous learning experience. One thing I know for sure: I definitely would not mind being in court every day. I had tons of fun preparing for the case and arguing my points, and I am now seriously considering becoming a lawyer or maybe a judge.
Jessica Richardson, 14, is in the eighth grade at St. Raphael Catholic School in St. Petersburg and is a former member of the Times X-Team.
Here's the rest of today's Xpress
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