Ledger-Dispatch

By Bethany A. Monk (bmonk@ledger-dispatch.com) =

Attorney Jeff Seaton and Amador County = Deputy=20 District Attorney Melinda Aiello re-enact a scene from the court's = mock=20 trial event Tuesday. Pictured on the witness stand is Alexandra = Asterline,=20 a senior attorney with the court, as she portrays "Lilly," a high = school=20 student allegedly attacked at a school dance by her boyfriend. = John Young,=20 a drama student in Giles Turner's class at Amador High School = played the=20 part of her boyfriend, "Mr. Federline."

Photo by: Bethany A. = Monk

After the trial proceedings, students = were=20 divided into three juries and had about 15 minutes to deliberate = before=20 announcing their respective verdicts to the court.

Photo by: Courtesy to the Ledger=20 Dispatch
He clasped his hands around = her arms,=20 dragged her across the dirt to his Jeep and threw her in.

After = being=20 tossed into the Jeep, Lilly suffered a gash across her forehead so deep = the=20 blood from her wound trickled in between and over the "diamonds" in the = tiara=20 she got to wear after being voted as the school's homecoming queen that=20 night.

The dance had ended and "on that particular evening, he = used poor=20 judgment," Deputy District Attorney Bill Houle told the jurors in his = closing=20 argument. Houle was referring to defendant, Mr. Federline, and the = accusations=20 against him in a domestic violence case filed by his girlfriend, Lilly = Lohan.=20 "When people break those laws," Houle said, in reference to federal laws = protecting people from battery, "we have consequences" for = them.

The=20 courtroom was packed, to say the least. Audience members sat quietly. = Some=20 leaned forward in their seats. Others scribbled notes on blue-lined = binder=20 paper.

On Oct. 21, more than 150 Ione Junior High School=20 seventh-graders, in two separate sittings, participated in the two-hour = Amador=20 County Superior Court mock trial presided over by Judge Susan Harlan. = Attorneys,=20 bailiffs, stenographers, court staff and other members of the community, = participated in the scripted trial about a high school boy and girl - = Lilly=20 Lohan and Mr. Federline - who attended a school dance one night where = the=20 alleged incident happened. After the trial proceedings, the Ione = students were=20 divided into three juries and had about 15 minutes to deliberate before=20 announcing their respective verdicts to the court.

As part of = the Amador=20 County Domestic Violence Council, the student education committee had=20 brainstormed several methods related to educating students about dating = and=20 domestic violence; council members decided a mock trial would be a great = education tool, according to a press release from the court. In May, the = court=20 performed a practice mock trial for two fifth-grade classes from Sutter = Creek=20 Elementary School. The committee plans to schedule another mock trial = for=20 Jackson Junior High School students in the spring.

"Domestic = violence=20 cases are unique in that often times the victim recants statements made = to the=20 officers at the time of the offense," Harlan said. "Our goal was to = create a=20 mock trial in which students could experience this very real=20 dilemma."

Such is the case in the story of Lilly Lohan and Mr. = Federline.=20 In their story, the couple attend a school dance. Afterward, Federline = shoves=20 her into his car. She cuts her face. But as the trial unraveled, Lilly = decided=20 she didn't want her boyfriend to face charges. She changed her story and = said=20 she bumped her head. The three juries, then, had to decide, based on = testimony=20 and evidence, if Mr. Federline was guilty or innocent.

In = defense=20 attorney Jeff Seaton's closing argument, he urged the juries to use = their common=20 sense in deliberation. "A person's conduct can be misconstrued by = someone else=20 as being angry," he said, reminding jurors that "the DA has to prove my = client=20 harmed Miss Lohan. ... Did Mr. Federline touch Miss Lohan in a harmful = way? ...=20 And who says he was angry? ... Be reasonable in your decision." =

During=20 the deliberation, students studied the evidence: Several pictures of = Lilly,=20 played by Alexandra Asterlin, Amador County Superior Court senior = attorney,=20 photographed shortly after the "incident" at the dance. The pictures = showed=20 Lilly with a deep cut above her eyebrow, and several bruises up and down = the=20 backs of her arms.

Each of the three juries selected a jury = floor person=20 to represent each group and give Harlan the verdict. Two of the juries = found=20 Federline guilty; the third jury was hung.

One student, Jeremiah = Guaydacan, interviewed after the event said he thought Federline was = guilty=20 without a doubt because of "the bruises (on Lohan's arms) and how she = hit her=20 head."

Some thought he was innocent and that Lilly, a = cheerleader, may=20 have been injured at cheerleading practice.

"I think they made = some=20 pretty astute observations," said Mark Herberger, Ione Junior High = School=20 teacher of the students and their participation in the mock trial. "I = was=20 surprised with how well they did."

"I thought their questions = were=20 fantastic," said Melinda Aiello, the court's deputy district attorney, = of the=20 students. Harlan let students ask questions about the case and many = students=20 made keen observations, Aiello said. "They were really using their = critical=20 thinking skills."

When asked what she wanted students to gain = from the=20 experience, Aiello said she hopes "they got to see how the justice = system=20 works," and the human side of such cases.

Harlan told the Ledger = Dispatch=20 that she hopes students learn about the nuances of domestic violence = cases=20 during the court's mock trial. It's also important to educate the = community on=20 how these things happen, Harlan added.

These students, she said, = "are our=20 future jurors."

Bethany A. = Monk