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

Photo by: Bethany A. Monk

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

Photo by: Courtesy to the Ledger Dispatch

He clasped his hands around her arms, dragged her across the dirt to his Jeep and threw her in.

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

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

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

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

As part of the Amador County Domestic Violence Council, the student education committee had brainstormed several methods related to educating students about dating and 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 performed a practice mock trial for two fifth-grade classes from Sutter Creek Elementary School. The committee plans to schedule another mock trial for Jackson Junior High School students in the spring.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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