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FOR 2008 CAMPERS

The Court Trials
The trials start at 9.00 am Saturday

The Forensic Science Camp will culminate with a trial of the accused from each of the crime scenarios. All campers will be involved in these trials and any parents or friends are welcome to come and watch. The trials start at 9.00 am Saturday. It is important that all students wishing to attend the camp read the information on the trials in order to choose their preferred role in the courtroom.

Background Information:

At the Camp, detectives will be divided into groups of four. Each group (called a Crime Task Force) will assume the name of a famous detective or police officer. Each CTF will work to solve a crime. There will be five crime scenarios altogether and approximately eight CTFs will work to solve each crime. It goes without saying that the CTFs will operate independently as they will be keen to keep secret whatever evidence they have amassed. We expect that most of the crimes will be solved sometime on Friday morning. When the CTF members are convinced that they have identified the perpetrator of their crime AND have a body of evidence to gain a conviction, the CTF must present a written submission to a Judge. Their written submission must be well written and clearly argued, as it must convince the Judge that the accused should be committed for trial.
Preparation for the trial

The preparation for the trial will take place on Friday afternoon and evening. The defense and prosecution teams will develop a strategy for their cases, then will brief the ordinary and expert witnesses. Once briefed the witnesses will prepare their court room presentations and get ready for the rigours of cross-examination. To ensure that detailed pieces of physical evidence such as fingerprints, fibres and ballistics can be seen by everyone in the courtroom, the expert witnesses will be asked to prepare a Powerpoint presentation to be used in the courtroom. This will allow for images to be projected onto a screen for the Expert Witnesses to refer to during their testimony.

The trials begin at 9 am on Saturday morning. Five court rooms will be used. Final summations by the prosecuting and defence teams will be made before lunch. The jurors will then retire during lunch to consider their verdict. It should be noted that jury members would hear evidence on a crime differing from the one that they have been solving. After lunch all campers, parents and guests will assemble to hear all verdicts delivered by the juries and the judges will pass sentence on those found guilty. The Camp will then draw to a close.

How will the court trial work?

The eight CTFs that worked on each crime scenario will come together after lunch on Friday to prepare for the trial. The trial involves a number of roles such as:

The accused person(s)
The Judge
The Jury
The Prosecution Team
The Defense Team
Witnesses (expert and ordinary)
Court officers (Bailiff and Clerk)

How will the campers know the roles they will play?

Choosing your role

1. Read the information about the court procedures on this website. Think about the roles that best suit your own personality and or ambitions.
2. Choose three roles and enter these (indicating your order of preference) in the appropriate area of the Excel document that is attached to your Acceptance Email.
3. The Camp Management will consider your choices and allocate all Campers to courtroom roles.
4. The Camp Management will notify you of your role before the Camp.

What roles will be required?

1. The Judges will be real lawyers, so you can't choose this role.
2. Expert Witnesses: Several of these will be needed. Expert witnesses are professional people with training in specialised areas eg fingerprint analysis, handwriting analysis, DNA etc. The court usually accepts their evidence as fact, but it can be challenged by other experts from the same field.
   If you are an Expert Witness you will have to make up and adopt a persona (a character). How old are you? What qualifications do you have? Where did you train? What experience have you had in your field? and so on. These are questions that barristers will ask you before you are questioned about your interpretation of the physical evidence.
3. Ordinary Witnesses: Several of these will be needed. Ordinary witnesses are people who have seen or heard something that is related to the crime. They are ordinary people who happened to be in a particular place at a particular time and ordinary witness will be called to the court by either the Prosecution or Defence lawyers. Police officers and detectives who were involved in the case also fall into the category of ordinary witnesses.
   If you are an ordinary witness you will adopt the persona of the person. Clues to the type of person you are will he found in the witness interviews that you have dealt with while solving the crime. It makes the trial much more interesting for the audience if witnesses do their best to adopt totally the personality of the person they are playing.
4. Court Officers: The Bailiff is a Court Officer who calls witnesses to the court, swears in witnesses, asks the court to stand or sit at appropriate times, for example, “All rise. The Supreme Court of New South Wales is now in session, Mr Justice Sanderson presiding.”
   The Bailiff needs to be prepared to use his/her voice with authority. The ‘tone’ that the Bailiff sets is important in creating a dignified and serious atmosphere in the court.
   The Clerk of the Court is the court officer who handles items of evidence, enters them into the Court Records on the Judge's instruction and generally does what the Judge instructs him/her to do.
5. Jury Members: The members of the Jury decide what is fact. They reach a verdict on the basis of evidence presented to the court.
   For our trials the Jury members who were solving one crime scenario as detectives, will move to the trial of a different crime scenario, so that they know nothing of the case being tried.
6. The Accused (Plaintiff): This is the person being tried by The Crown (The State) for the alleged criminal offence.
   If you are the accused you must take on the persona of the accused and act out that persona. Try to use language and body language the way that person would use it. Respond to matters in the court the way that person would respond. Remember that you have worked for days in your detective role getting inside the head of this person so you know a great deal about him/her.
7. The Barristers: Three or four barristers will make up each of the two legal teams, the Defence Team and the Prosecution Team.
   It is vital that the Barristers prepare themselves thoroughly on court procedure, the rules of 'Examination-in-Chief' and 'Cross-examination', the grounds for objection to questions and statements.
   The Barristers must be prepared to speak forcefully (not disrespectfully), to think on their feet and to listen carefully to what is being said so that they can formulate questions or arguments in response.

The Barristers are the key performers in the trial. They provide the framework that makes it possible for the other players to perform the roles well.

What do we (the Managers) expect of you (the Camper)?

The trial of the accused is the culmination of a week of highly challenging and stimulating investigation. By the time your Crime Task Force has prepared its submission to the Judge that the person you believe to be guilty should be brought to trial, you will know a great deal about the evidence and the people involved in the crime. You will know your court room role before you come to Armidale. While you are solving your crime please spend time preparing yourself for your court role by reading what there is to read and by thinking about the way the evidence might be used in court or how you would present the case to a Jury or what sort of personality the accused/witness/etc has.

There will be five trials running concurrently on Saturday morning and all courtrooms will be full of spectators (your family and friends as well as members of the Armidale public). If you prepare yourself well the trials will be an entertaining spectacle and a fitting finish to a wonderful week.

How does the Trial proceed?

Opening of the Trial

Bailiff: "All rise. The Supreme Court of New South Wales is now in session, The Honourable Mr Justice Sunderland presiding."
Judge: "Mr/Ms Bailiff’s name what is today's case?"
Bailiff: "Your Honour, today's case is The Crown verses Smith."
Judge: "Is the prosecution ready?"
Leading Barrister: "Yes, Your Honour."
Judge: "Is the Defence ready?"
Leading Barrister: "Yes, Your Honour."
Judge: “Is the prosecution ready to make its opening statement?”
Leading Prosecution Barrister: “Yes, Your Honour.”
“Your Honour and members of the Jury, my name is John Fotherington-Smith. I am representing The Crown in this case. We intend to prove………”
Prosecution’s ‘Examination-in-Chief’
The ‘Examination-in-Chief’ is the first form of questioning conducted between a witness and the Prosecution or Defence. The purpose of this examination is to elicit and establish for the Court the major facts and issues considered to be essential to the case. Questions are asked of the witness by the party who called the witness (ie: either the Prosecution or the Defence).
The leading barrister for the prosecution calls the first witness.
Leading Prosecution Barrister: “Call Rebecca Smythe-Thomas.”
Bailiff: (stands and calls loudly) “Call Rebecca Smythe-Thomas. Call Rebecca Smythe-Thomas.”
Rebecca Smythe-Thomas will then enter the courtroom and take the witness stand. The Bailiff will then swear her in.
Bailiff: “Please state your name and address.”
Witness: “Rebecca Smythe-Thomas. I live at 3 Duckworth Drive, Uralla.”
Bailiff: “Please raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”
Witness: “I swear.” Witness sits.

The Prosecution Barrister then begins his/her Examination in Chief. It is important to ask questions that will let the witness tell the complete story. It is not permissible to ask leading questions, that is questions that require a yes or no answer.

When the Examination in Chief of a witness has been concluded, the Barrister of the other side has the opportunity to cross examine.

Cross Examination

This is second form of questioning. It is when the Barrister of the party who did not call the witness has the opportunity to ask questions. It is the function of cross-examination to discredit the witness. It is permitted to ask leading questions, that is, questions that require yes or no answers. This is not permitted in the Examination in Chief.

When the Prosecution has examined all of the witnesses that they intend to call, the Leading Barrister states: “That concludes the case for the Prosecution, Your Honour.” The Defence then begins its Examination in Chief.

Defence’s Examination-in-Chief
Leading Defence Barrister: “Call William Baker.” etc, etc
Closing Arguments
This stage of the trial provides an opportunity for each side to present a summary of the case. It allows counsel to provide a clear story to the Jury emphasising the important evidence and pointing out its significance to the case. The closing arguments are presented in the past tense eg “As the testimony has shown...” This is the stage of the trial when the dramatic capacities of the barristers may be used to attempt to sway the opinion of the Jury.
The Prosecution presents its closing argument first.

Summing Up

At this stage of the trial the Judge outlines the evidence presented by each party, explains the relevant laws and instructs the members of the Jury on their task. The Judge then orders a recess until the Jury returns with its verdict.
Bailiff: “All stand, this court is now in recess.”

Verdict

The finding of the Jury is based on the facts presented. The Burden of Proof lies with the Prosecution to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt. The verdict is either "guilty" or "not guilty".

Summary of How the Court Case Proceeds

1. The Prosecution opens their case with an opening statement which outlines what they intend to prove. The Defence will then make a similar statement about their case.
2. The Prosecution calls their first witness and leads him/her through the Examination-in-Chief.
3. Each Prosecution witness is cross-examined by the Defence as they appear.
4. When the Prosecution has completed their case, the Defence begins theirs.
5. The Defence calls each of their witnesses and takes them through the Examination-in-Chief.
6. The Prosecution cross-examines the each of the Defence witnesses as they appear.
7. The Defence concludes their case
8. The Prosecution sums up.
9. The Defence sums up.
10. The Judge completes his summation.
11. The Jury retires to decide the verdict.
12. The Jury returns the verdict.
13. Pending on the outcome of the verdict, the Judge either releases or sentences the accused.
14. The Judge adjourns the Court.

Court Room Hints

1. When addressing the Bench (the Judge) or being addressed by the Bench, you must be upstanding.
2. To object to an issue that the opposition is saying, stand and say, "objection" and have a good reason for doing this because the Judge will have to make a decision based on your reasoning.
3. If you decide to approach the witness box, ask the Judges permission to do so. “Your Honour, may I approach the witness?”
4. Stand still behind the bar table when questioning the witness. Do not move around.
5. Be polite and respectful in your dealing with the Judge and your opposing lawyers. Refer to an opposing lawyer as “My learned friend”.Examples of Questions

You May Ask

Examination-in-Chief: (not leading the witness)

1. Q. What is your name?
2. Q. What is your address?
3. Q. What is your occupation?
4. Q. What happened on Thursday, June 25th?
5. Q. Whereabouts do you say that this incident happened?
6. Q. What happened next?
7. Q. What did X do to Y?
8. Q. Where were you?
9. Q. What did he say to you.

Cross Examination: (leading the witness)

1. Q. Your name is?
2. Q. You had been drinking for some time prior to your witnessing the crime?
3. Q. You had been asleep for some hours and you were not fully awake?
4. Q. On X day Y date you were at the front of your premises?
5. Q. The defendant said "----------------"?
6. Q. You then saw the defendant get into his car?