Sophomores went to court this past week after reading Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Tasked with either defending or convicting Marcus Brutus with murder in the first degree, the students of Mr. Thibodeaux's English II/III Honors class gained first-hand legal experience. Two "Lead Attorneys" were selected and asked to draft their legal teams from the members of the class. The Prosecution and the Defense were then tasked with preparing for their respective roles in the trial. Both groups used Ethos, Pathos, and Logos in their Opening and Closing Statements, chose two witnesses and prepared evidence/questioning for those witnesses during direct examination, and prepared evidence and questions for cross-examination of the opposition's witnesses.
The class was given two days to prepare for the trial, an extra day to prepare after disclosing evidence and witnesses, one day for the opening statements, one day for the Prosecution to present their witnesses/evidence with time for cross-examination and redirect, another day for the Defense to do the same, and a final day for the closing statements and jury deliberation. Each "legal team" was also given a list of grounds for objection. The jury, comprised of Mr. Ian Supak and Mr. Thomas Mavor, then deliberated and returned with the verdict. The results? The Prosecution in the 1st-period class, despite valiant efforts by the Defense, was able to achieve a guilty verdict, while the Defense in 2nd-period was able to pull off a victory with a not-guilty verdict.