Kids learn about law in mock trial

The judge wore a black tablecloth as a robe and swiveled back and forth in his brown leather chair. The defense attorneys high-fived their adviser at the end of their cross-examinations, and the prosecutors got more and more excited about objecting as the cyber bullying trial went on.

The 13 preteens and teenagers held a mock trial Tuesday afternoon in the Ninth Circuit Public Defender’s office, capping off their month and a half of learning about the legal system at Law Camp, one of their summer activities through the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida.

Ta’Niya Williams, a 14-year-old ninth grader on the four-person prosecution team, stood in front of the jury — three boys and a girl in bright green and blue Boys & Girls Club Tshirts — and argued that the fictional defendant, 18-year-old Jesse Woodson, should be convicted under Florida’s cyber bullying law. he was accused of opening a page on a made-up social media website, FacePlace, to make fun of a new student, Angel Sterling.

“This situation has negatively impacted Angel,” Ta’Niya said, reading from a page. “You heard from the defendant and witnesses about that website that was made specifically for Angel.”

Ta’Niya said she has been interested in law since she was about 9. Her mother’s best friend is a lawyer who works on custody and family law cases, and Ta’Niya sometimes helps her go over paperwork, she said.

“I wanna defend children and their families because some kids are taken from their home, and it’s just sad to see that happen to such young kids,” she said.

The public defender’s office has been hosting a mock trial program for preteens and teenagers for 12 years, said Ninth Circuit Public Defender Bob Wesley.

“We’ve had stars,” he said. “We’ve had students I want to make a job offer to on the spot.”

In the earlier years, it was a trial of the Big Bad Wolf for crimes allegedly committed against the Three Little Pigs.

“It’s such a natural connection with the Boys & Girls Club because they’re our kids, they’re the communities we serve,” Wesley said.

On Tuesday, the teens had staff members and interns from the public defender’s office helping them with objections and courtroom procedure.

The defense argued that because Woodson used a public computer to log on to FacePlace and did not always log off, another person could have posted some of the more incendiary comments on the page. The case also involved a car burglary Angel witnessed, though there was not enough evidence that Woodson and his friends were the ones responsible for it.

The four jurors, three boys and a girl, deliberated for a few minutes while the attorneys and judge ate pizza left over from lunch. In the end, they found Woodson not guilty.

Like most juries in real cases, they did not explain how or why they reached their verdict. Instead, they headed to the back of the room to grab more pizza.