Education on trial: Students learn from day at court (with PHOTO GALLERY)

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — The judicial system came to life Wednesday for about 30 South Walton High School students.

With the help of Circuit Judge Kelvin Wells, the students acted as witnesses, jurors and attorneys during a mock trial Wednesday at the Walton County Courthouse.

View photos from the event.

The mock trial was part of the school’s Youth Leadership Walton class, which focuses on helping students to build a firm understanding of the world around them and develop important life skills, said Daniel Marcinkowski who teaches Life Languages to students during the course and volunteers to help out whenever necessary.

“To put them in a real professional environment, it’s good for them,” he said.

In Wednesday’s scenario, a camp counselor named Tyler Blunt was accused of setting off fireworks that sparked a fire, which killed two people.

Students in the 19-person class were each assigned a role to play. One student acted as the defendant, six students acted as the prosecution team, five students acted as the defense team and six students acted as witnesses. A 19th student was absent.

“I learned a lot about the law, which I knew nothing about before,” said senior Katy Lewandowski, who served on the defense team.

In addition to the leadership class, students from an honors government class were brought in to serve as the jurors. Then, to ensure no biases were created beforehand, the government students were “sequestered” from the leadership students on the bus ride over, said instructor Meredith Spence.

This was the second year leadership students participated in a mock trial. Last year’s trial went on for several hours, and to ensure that didn’t happen again, Marcinkowski coached the prosecution during the trial while Spence worked with the defense.

With Wells presiding, the negligent homicide trial began. It had opening statements, a parade of witnesses and eventually a verdict. But, unlike the scripted witness statements, no one was certain what the jury would conclude.

“There is no scripted outcome,” Marcinkowski said before the trial. “It depends on how well they do.”

While the jury went to deliberate, Wells opened the floor for questions. Students asked about everything from court procedure to if the judge ever used his gavel to control an unruly courtroom.

“I love this,” Wells said later. “My favorite part is seeing all these great young people … seeing all the good in the community.”

After about 15 minutes, the jury had their verdict: not guilty.

“It was like nothing I’ve ever done before,” said senior Grayson Gilbert, who served on the jury. “It was a lot of fun to see my classmates act like that.”

Parents who came to watch their teens said they were pleased not only with how the trial went but also with how much their children learned through the experience.

“It was just great seeing them so prepared and serious,” said Lewandowski’s father, Bob Harris, who is an attorney.