TRIAL DAY!

We've all waited almost a whole week for this day and it’s finally here!

Waking up at 5:30 AM was a pain in the butt, though we did it because we needed extra time to get ready for the big trial.

Everyone looked so professional!

In the morning we were scheduled to break into small groups of 2, we each were sent to different law firms around downtown Los Angeles. After lunch, we were to meet in an actual California Superior Courtroom and conduct our Mock Trial for four hours.

First stop was the law firms.

On the corner of 5th and Flower stood the biggest building/law firm in L.A. This was where my friend Katlyn and I were sent to find our lawyers.

We arrived 30 minutes early, so we decided to enjoy delightful Starbucks in the main lobby of the firm.

WE got the best firm! @ 10am, we met with an amazing law panel of lawyers @ “Latham and Watkins”, who gave us fantastic advice about the various steps they took to be successful. We went to their partners meeting and they told us all about the history of their firm. Each of them provided us with business cards: Travis T. S., Nanette B. B., Daniel S. S., Scott R. C., and Belinda S. L. Nanette talked about persistence and recommended CLEO as a training program to help pass the LSAT. They also explained how important internships are when going through law school. They really prepared for us and cared that we were there: then they gave us each goodie bags! If I ever need a law firm in LA, I’m calling them first!

For lunch, my group of 4 went out into downtown L.A. and ate at the California Pizza Kitchen together. Afterwards, we went to the candy shop and all bought various Candy Apples. I bought the M & M flavored candy apple and it was delicious. (I hope you're drooling right now).

We then met the rest of the law camp students in front of the downtown library and took a real L.A bus to the L.A court house. (There were real hobos on the bus and everything!) Most of us had to stand on the bus because none of us wanted to get our new fancy suits dirty and smelly from the hobos, and they didn’t seem to want to get close to us, either.

When we arrived at the courthouse, we had to stand in a huge security line to get our bags checked.

We finally got in at about 2:30pm and went to Room 35 for our trial that we'd been waiting SO LONG for.

The pretrial attorneys sat RIGHT in front, along with the defense. Since pre-trial attorney was my role, I sat right in front. I had virtually memorized my speech, and had practiced presenting it a hundred times. My job was to have the judge allow us to include a swastika as evidence at the trial. This was my speech:

“Good Afternoon Your Honor. I’m Brittany Turner and I represent the People of the State of California. “Defense would have you believe that freedom of expression is such an absolute that it would protect a private enforcement officer in the wearing of a swastika patch. “However, historically a swastika has incited public displays of anger, fear and resentment, all of which have outcomes that the “Lankerville Ordinance” seeks to prevent. “The Prosecution would like to bring forth the knowledge that the wearing of the swastika patch constitutes “Fighting Words” and is definitely not constitutionally protected by the first amendment. “In the case CHAPLINSKY v STATE of NEW HAMPSHIRE, Jehovah’s’ Witness Walter Chaplinsky was convicted for distributing disturbing literature in which he called a city Marshall a “Damned racketeer and a damned fascist.” “The Supreme Court upheld the conviction due to the fact that the literature contained “Fighting Words” which are NOT protected by the First Amendment. “Historically, the swastika patch has caused harm and fear and clearly was intended to be “fighting words”. “In the case LANTHROP v GEORGIA, the defendant threatened to kill his wife and was charged with terrorist threats. He claimed that his threats were protected by his first amendment rights. “However, the conviction was upheld due to the fact that he threatened to commit a crime and terrorize another person. The court said it was not valid for acquittal since the threats clearly fall outside of those expressions protected by the First Amendment. “By wearing the white Supremacist swastika patch in this case, the defendant, Jan Stover intends to terrorize and blatantly invoke fear into all people that the Aryan people target. The first amendment does not protect terrorization, and therefore does not protect Jan Stover’s choice to wear the swastika. “The swastika patch is very crucial to demonstrate Mr. Stover’s violent actions towards Dale Colbert, and must be kept as evidence in the trial. “Furthermore, the “Lankerville Ordinance” is constitutional and not too overbroad. “Thank you, Your Honor.”

All went well with the trial, and after one minute of deliberation, the prosecution won! That was US!!!! My Team!

The judge was so kind because he made brownies for the whole winning team. He apologized to the defense for not having enough to go around. He said he made a double batch for every one and left it in the hall for us, but the rotten “real” attorneys got hungry and ate half of them before they got to us! Therefore, only the winning team received the brownies.

It’s okay though, because we won anyway and WE deserved every bite for all of our hard work!

We then went back to Hendrick Hall on our bus and had a debriefing of the day. Then we were all given cards to write thank you notes on for the various people we met during the week.

We didn't get to bed until 3a.m. that night because we all packed into OUR dorm to watch a scary movie. It was VERY crowded but it was an amazing experience.

That is how I pictured dorm life as a college student to be.

This was a jam packed, but amazing day.

<3 Brittany

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