The charge – murder.The case – The State of Virginia vs. Muhammad and Malvo The verdict – not guiltyBut not really…Dr. Larry Little’s Criminal Law classes performed a three-hour mock trial on the infamous sniper case around the Washington, D.C., area last fall. The trial, held March 17 in RJR’s main lecture hall, gave Little’s students the opportunity to showcase their verbal, persuasive and reasoning skills as they stepped into the shoes of prosecution and defense attorneys and expert witnesses.”I think I’ve gained more knowledge about this case,” said Jovan Turner, a senior public administration major, who served as a prosecution attorney in the trial. “I also think I have a new appreciation for lawyers.”The student attorneys, who, according to Turner were involved in “intense rehearsals” for about a month and a half, set out to convince a 12-member jury, also composed of Little’s students from American Government classes, of the guilt or innocence of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo using a wealth of evidence from the trial. They also had the opportunity to exercise their knowledge of criminal law in front of a law practitioner who once walked in their shoes.”Every year I generally like to bring back a former student to serve as a judge just to show that it can be done,” said Little of Angela Seabrook, a Charlotte-based lawyer who acted as judge in the mock trial.Seabrook, who is a 1997 graduate of Winston-Salem State University, attended North Carolina Central University’s School of Law and obtained her juris doctorate. She now owns a private law practice in Charlotte. Little described her as ” a role model for our students,” and Seabrook expressed how proud and honored she was to be amongst the WSSU students, many of whom aspire to practice law.”I am absolutely blown by the talent I’ve seen in here today,” said Seabrook, who says litigation and cross examination are her personal favorites in practicing law. “It’s critical for our people to be in the courtrooms so that we can get fair representation,” she said.Each side, the defense and the prosecution, provided a number of witnesses, some who played those that were involved in the actual case such as police chief Charles Moose and victim Iran Brown, and others who portrayed fictional characters such as “psychologist” and junior psychology major, Daiquari Ross, who offered psychological analysis on the behaviors of criminals. Their opinions on the actual sniper case were supplemented by the information they learned in preparation for the trial.”You’ve always got to question the majority,” said Krystle Myers, a junior political science major and defense attorney in the trial, of the nation’s view and opinion of the accused. “We got the opportunity to study and use actual evidence from the real case. I believe the evidence was too inconclusive for it to have even been tried.”Trisha Pollard, a junior public administration major and member of the prosecution team, had a different take on the real case. “I enjoyed working on this because it’s such a high profile case,” said Pollard. Among those who attended the trial were Little’s students and parents of those participating in the trial. “I learned information that I haven’t learned from the news,” said Jasmine Hargrave, a freshman physical education major.
Contact Nicole Ferguson at nferguson@thenewsargus.com.