Mock Trial - Need Help Please

[TheSequelOfDisney]

So, for government I have to participate in a mock trial. I was given the task of writing the opening and closing statements and I'm kind of clueless as how to begin. I'll post what the trial is about and if anyone can help me that would be wonderful. And, also, in the pretrial hearing the judge (my teacher) ruled that the evidence cannot be used. So now I can't say anything about the evidence found because I can't use it. I really don't even know where to begin, so if someone can help me, that would be fantastic. And it's kind of due tomorrow, so a quick response would be most helpful. Thanks to those who can help me.

[Escapay]

Watch an episode of "Boston Legal", "The Practice", "L.A. Law", or any other lawyer show that you can get ahold of. Their "closing statements" usually are not really what one would see in a trial (not that I'd know, but it's television after all). You basically have to convince the jury that your side is right. Or, if your side is not right, that your side was justified in its actions and shouldn't be convicted. Since you have to do it without referencing the evidence, it may be a bit harder.

There was an episode of "Boston Legal" where Alan Shore had to defend a homeless man who ate a fellow homeless person. He made a very convincing closing statement that when someone's homeless, and they have the approval of the other (dead) person, that they are allowed to eat them. Because, as Alan argued, it's a bigger crime that homelessness/starvation exists at all in a nation as gluttonous as the US, and that all the homeless man did was eat because he was hungry (regardless if it was human flesh or chicken or beef, etc.). I remember it was a very effective closing statement, and I think they eventually found him not guilty.

albert

[SpringHeelJack]

Boy, if every trial were zombie hobo cannibalism, I wouldn't try to get out of jury duty so often.

I for one suggest you stand up and shout and pound things with your fist a lot. As a movie once said, "Razzle dazzle 'em, and they'll never catch wise!". I think it was "Inherit the Wind".

[Margos]

Boy, if every trial were zombie hobo cannibalism, I wouldn't try to get out of jury duty so often.

Wow, SHJ, that sounds like a WIST!

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Case:

Mountainville is a town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of northern California. The Mountainville Ski Lodge recently began construction to expand its facilities. The new construction would extend into a neighboring wilderness area, and would involve clear-cutting some old growth redwood trees. This prompted a public debate between local environmentalists and pro-development townspeople. The debate was civil and leading to compromise on both sides.
On Friday, June 1, 2001, vandals damaged property at the Lodge’s construction site. The owner of the Lodge reported to the Mountainville Police that the vandals had left graffiti on the trailer doors at the site reading “Let the Trees Live!” and had poured sugar into the gas tank of a truck, causing several thousand dollars in damage. The police questioned several local environmental activists, but had no evidence to suspect anyone.
On June 12, vandals did more damage. The construction superintendent found power cables cut, a power generator and sections of the partial construction smashed, a tractor damaged, and numerous windowpanes broken. More anti-development graffiti covered the vandalized areas. Damage was estimated at thousands of dollars in materials and labor costs. The superintendent also received an anonymous phone call threatening arson. During the following week, similar phone calls alerted the Mountainville Police of the serious nature of the situation.
On Thursday, July 5, Officer Benares of the Mountainville Police Department was approached by Casey Ballard, a student at Mountainville Community College. Ballard asked about Benares’ investigation of the vandalism and told what Ballard had heard about a local group of students calling themselves the Earth Guerrilla Order, EGO. Officer Benares questioned Ballard further, but Ballard disavowed any personal knowledge of EGO’s membership.
On the morning of Saturday, July 7, an MPD lieutenant called a meeting and directed Officer Benares and another officer, to conduct a safety check between the hours of 5 and 9 p.m. on Boulder Road to check drivers’ licenses and registration papers. Boulder Road leads past the Lodge and recreation areas and connects to Highway 80. The lieutenant informed the officers that Fourth of July weekend activities often result in a higher incidence of traffic accidents on Boulder Road. In previous years, the police had set up safety checkpoints on Boulder Road to monitor traffic. Due to the heavy holiday traffic, the lieutenant thought it was important to check to be sure that vehicles were in safe working condition and instructed the officers to stop every third car passing the Boulder Road checkpoint.
The lieutenant also reminded the officers that they were still looking for the “eco-terrorists” who had twice vandalized the Lodge and that the checkpoint could also serve as means to detect evidence of their identity. The lieutenant supplied a profile of a potential eco-terrorist as someone who was “about college-age with a disheveled appearance, possibly wearing ragged, flannel shirts or t-shirts with political slogans, and combat boots or hiking shoes.” Their cars “are often older models in visibly poor condition with political bumper stickers.” The lieutenant assigned Officer Benares and another officer to administer the checkpoint.
At the checkpoint, Officer Benares stood five feet from the side of the road and about a car length behind the place where the other officer checked licenses and registrations of the stopped cares. Benares’ responsibilities were to direct traffic and to give added police presence.
At around 8:30 p.m., a line of cars had backed up as traffic increased. It was twilight. Syd Price, a student at MCC, was in line immediately behind a car that had been stopped at the checkpoint. Officer Benares observed that Price, college-age and wearing an environmental T-shirt, and Price’s truck, a mid-sized, dark-blue 1985 Toyota pickup truck, both appeared to match the eco-terrorist profile. Using a flashlight, Benares approached the truck and noticed a faded bumper sticker on the back window, which read “Go Solar.” Benares wrote a description of Price’s truck including license plate number in the police log.
[Benares the conducted a visual inspection of the truck from front to back and noticed a tool box, various auto parts and a beach towel draped over a large object toward the back of the truck bed. Benares bent down, placed a hand on the truck’s bed rail and leaned into the truck bed. Benares shined the flashlight into the 12-inch gap between the edge of the towel and the sidewall of the truck bed. From that angle, Benares observed that the towel covered a large gas can resting in the bed of the pickup. Benares wrote a description of the cas can in the police log.] Because Price’s pickup was not the third vehicle in the line, Price was allowed to proceed through the checkpoint.
At approximately 10 p.m. that evening, a fire at the Lodge caused damage totaling over $1,000,000, not only to the nearly finished construction, but also to the Lodge’s main structure as well. Officer Benares investigated the scene and determined that arson caused the fire.
The following day, Benares received a phone call from Ronnie Uderzo, a superintendent for the Lodge construction who had just heard about the fire. Uderzo had been at the Lodge the night before and had seen a mid-sized, dark-colored pickup truck parked amidst the trees, between Boulder Road and the lodge driveway. Uderzo informed Benares that the first three characters in the truck’s license number were “2WP.” Officer Benares then went to the spot Uderzo described, and found a pair of tire tracks in the mud, prompting Benares to take a plaster impression (“moulage”) of the tracks as evidence.
With the assistance of Alex Huffman, a consultant and retired crime-scene investigator, Benares found a faint shoeprint in an area of concrete that had been newly laid late in the afternoon of July 7 near the burned portion of the structure. Benares made a plaster moulage of the print, showing that it had been made by a hiking boot.
Benares tracked down Casey Ballard for further questioning, and Ballard admitted to having been a member of EGO but denied taking part in arson. Ballard told Benares that arson plans had been discussed at EGO’s meetings and that Syd Price should be considered a suspect.
On Monday, July 9, Benares and Alex Huffman, compared the tire-track moulage to the rear tires of the pickup truck parked in front of Price’s home. Benares concluded that the tires matched the moulage. The license number on the truck was 2WPA345.
Benares obtained a search warrant for Price’s home and truck. At Price’s house, Benares found a pair of hiking boots with treads, that in Benares opinion, matched those in the moulage taken from the site of the arson. Benares also found instructions for arson downloaded from the Internet and a checklist. The instructions and checklist were attached to a diagram of the Lodge folded inside Price’s political science textbook. [Benares did not find the gas can from the bed of Price’s pickup.] Based on the evidence, Benares arrested Price on the charge of arson.

[reyquila]

You represent the People or the Defendant?

[TheSequelOfDisney]

You represent the People or the Defendant?

The people.

[reyquila]

According to my very limited US constitutional and criminal law knowledge, which I studied in law school 17 years ago and haven't practiced a bit, I think your agents did everything by the book, since they did not stopped your suspect in the block due to an illegal reason, they have a rationale for stopping cars (every three cars), they observed everything in plain view (truck bed) and picked on physical evidence (trails and foot marks) with no need for a judicial orded. They did get their judicial order when needed (searching the car). I think you are in good shape!!!

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Yeah, but I can't use the evidence from the search from the checkpoint. Do you think I can use the information given from the construction superintendent and the following actions from Officer Benares (going to Price's house and matching the tires)?

[reyquila]

Did he give you a reason as to why you can't use it?

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Yeah. The judge (my teacher) during the pretrial motion said that the evidence could not be used. But what I think is that I just can't use the evidence from the search of the truck at the checkpoint. I think I'm going to use the footprint and tire moulages and the license plate number to connect Syd to the crime.