Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 4, The Power of Persuasion (7th-8th)
Hello, all you persuasive people!
Extra, extra! Read all about it! The Pied Piper, who is facing criminal charges for kidnapping and attempted murder, is suing the Hamlin town Mayor and Corporation for damages and breach of contract! Extra, extra, you heard it heard it here first! Trials are both set to start this afternoon!
Well, you heard it! Our mock trial was scheduled for the afternoon, and we spent the morning furiously preparing! Our prosecutorial and defense teams in both our criminal and civil courts finished crafting their opening statements, determining their strategy, and prepping their witnesses. Our witnesses curated their characters and got into acting mode while preparing their witness statements and steeling themselves for hard questions on the cross-examination. Our jury members, under instruction from the judge, tried to ignore the massive amount of media buzz surrounding this historic and shocking case! Each student would have an opportunity to serve as a jury member for the opposite court than they were serving on. Preparation also included a lot of research of Robert Browning’s The Pied Piper of Hamlin epic poem, as the poem includes much detail and difficult language with multiple ways to interpret the event.
Finally, the time came for the trial to begin, the honorable Judge Rho Bot presiding. Our Bailiff, Ms. Snader, called the court to honor, introduced to the judge, and we were on our way! First up – opening statements in our criminal case The Town of Hamlin v. Pied Piper. And our two prosecuting attorneys were full of pathos and very convincing, together they weaved a tale of woe for the people of Hamlin Town and the tricky and violent Piper who stole all their happiness away because they just couldn’t pay! Shocking! Yet, our defense attorneys had a very different story to tell – one of a greedy mayor and his oppressive corporation who heavily food-taxed the town and ignored the growing pestilence of rats and disrepair! Who to believe, who to believe? Both teams called their witnesses, some were convincing, and some seemed … slightly depraved. Ehem, ehem, Mr. Mayor! By the end of the trial, it was clear that this wasn’t a clear-cut case! But the jury did their due diligence, evaluated all the evidence, and returned a verdict of GUILTY! Poor Pied Piper.
After ORA, the criminal trial began! Our lawyers in civil court were concise and specific, telling the jury exactly what to expect and confidently claiming that they knew the jury would make the right choice – for their side. Our civil prosecution absolutely grilled our witnesses, making us a bit suspicious of the corporation chef and proving that the Pied Piper was a pretty okay guy, according to a witness from a neighboring town. We also began to suspect that the mayor may not be as innocent as he claimed – especially when he admitted that he had made life merely “passable” for the hungry inhabitants of Hamlin. Perhaps the Pied Piper had taken the children off to live a better life? However, our defense was savvy, they kept their cool, mostly ignoring the prosecution’s witnesses until the time came to call their own! And then the tides turned when we heard the sorrowful tale from a grieving mother who lost her son and the remaining rat who lost his entire village. In the end, the defense delivered with a haunting question – “How much are the lives of our children worth, certainly it is more than the 1,000 guilders owed!” And there you have it, our jury quickly agreed that the town, while possibly in breach of contract, owed nothing more to the Pied Piper.
Just for fun: Caregivers/parents – ask your students about their role in the trial and whether they were trustworthy and reliable or came off as more of a ‘smooth criminal’ – were looking at you B!
Until tomorrow,
Ms. Rho