January 12 – Students Participate in Mock Trial Competition

Close to 65 Grade 12 Law students will don legal gowns at the Sudbury Courthouse this Monday, January 12th, 2009 to prosecute and defend the case of Her Majesty the Queen versus Edvard Nosferatu (also known as Howard Stunned) who is charged with willfully promoting hatred against the Floman ethnic group.

It’s all part of this year’s Mock Trial Competition, a joint effort of Sudbury’s legal community, Rainbow District School Board and the Sudbury Catholic District School Board.

A total of nine teams will compete from seven secondary schools, including students from Chelmsford Valley District Composite School, Lasalle Secondary School, Lockerby Composite School, Manitoulin Secondary School and Sudbury Secondary School.

Edvard Nosferatu (also known as Howard Stunned) stands charged that between July 1, 2008 and July 5, 2008, in a public place in the City of Greater Sudbury, did, by communicating statements against the Floman ethnic group, incite hatred against the Floman ethnic group, with a likelihood of leading to a breach of the peace, contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada.

Local winners will go on to the Northeastern Mock Trial Competition to be held in Sudbury in early March. Regional winners will compete in the province-wide finals in Toronto in the spring.  Last year, students from Lockerby Composite School participated in the provincial Mock Trial Competition in Toronto.

Participants have been diligently preparing their cases under the guidance of local lawyers since the fall. Students will be vying for the coveted Hennessy Cup. A number of additional awards will be presented – best advocate defense, best advocate crown, best witness and the Civility Award for courtroom decorum.

The event will begin at 8:30 am sharp in Courtroom A, with an opening address by area judges. (Observers must arrive on time in order to gain entry for this portion of the proceedings.) Trials will continue throughout the day and culminate with the championship trial at 2 pm. The Awards Ceremony will begin at 3:30 pm. The public is welcome to attend. Photographs will be permitted throughout the proceedings.

Judy Hunda, Chair of Rainbow District School Board, commended Sudbury’s legal community for their ongoing support of student success through their generous contribution of time and expertise. “Mock trials bring learning to life. What better place to learn about the justice system than in a courtroom prosecuting and defending a case before a judge,” she says. “Our local legal community is helping to mentor the next generation of lawyers, enhancing what’s taught in the classroom.”

“The Sudbury Mock Trial Competition would not be possible without the volunteer efforts of many lawyers from local legal firms who generously give of their time to mentor student teams in preparation for the competition,” says Tiffany Roberts, Curriculum Co-ordinator for the Rainbow District School Board.  “Volunteers from the Crown Attorney’s office and from the Sudbury judicial community also lend their invaluable support to the competition.”

The Mock Trial process, now in its seventh year, is very closely aligned with the Grade 12 Law curriculum. In addition to meeting curriculum expectations, mock trials develop other skills in students, including public speaking, teamwork, presentation, preparation and critical thinking skills.

Madame Justice Patricia C. Hennessy, Mock Trial Project Leader, has been a driving force behind the competition since its inception. The Hennessy Cup, presented to the winning team, is named after her. “The local bar and judiciary have embraced this project and put a lot of time into it because they believe they have an obligation to do public education and they believe that this, as a public education initiative, has an enormous impact on the participants,” she says. 

She adds: “What we see is that students can really integrate some fundamental principles that are important to being a well-informed Canadian citizen.  And those principles are basic, like the presumption of innocence, the role of the crown attorney and the role of a defense lawyer in the criminal justice system.  And it’s one thing to hear a teacher explain that, it’s one thing to read it, but it is completely another thing to spend a number of months working as if that’s something that you need to understand.”

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Media Contact:

Tiffany Roberts, Curriculum Co-ordinator,
Rainbow District School Board, 705-523-3308, ext. 8209