Mike Fugate wanted his new forensic science course to come alive for his students.
How appropriate that the Dove Science Academy (DSA) teacher found guidance through his friends at St. Luke’s Wednesday Night Alive. Fugate put together a mock trial for his students that involved legal experts who are St. Luke’s members. They first discussed the idea at a WNA dinner last fall.
“This is the best public education that we can do,” said Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Noma Gurich, who served as the courtroom judge. “I only wish we could get everyone to participate in some sort of mock trial situation or actually serve on a jury.”
Oklahoma County Retired Judge Jerry Bass acted as the state prosecutor, and ACLU Oklahoma Legal Director Brady Henderson played the defense attorney.
The case? The untimely death of Fletcher D. Bear, a “student” who also happens to be a stuffed animal.
Judge Gurich praised the charter high school for teaching students about the justice system through science.
“It’s exposed students to critical thinking and required them to reconcile scientific data with legal theories and rules, as do real professionals,” she said.
The DSA students filed search warrants, collected evidence, and analyzed testimony in the case.
They had to piece together what really happened to Mr. Bear before he was rushed to a hospital for ingesting a toxic amount of aspirin.
The defendant, Jason Mack (who is also dean of discipline at DSA), had a First Degree Murder charge filed against him by the students, a.k.a. the “Dove Science Academy Police Department.”
After analyzing an aspirin bottle, 911 call, fingerprints, computer search history, etc., they theorized the defendant gave Bear two aspirin – a lethal dose for the stuffed animal’s size.
“It isn’t necessarily everything that student knows,” Henderson said. “It’s the questions they ask and how they engage with people. I’m just really glad for the opportunity to come and be a part of showing them a different experience.”
At the conclusion of the mock trial, many students thought Mack should be convicted of a lesser offense – either Second Degree Murder or Manslaughter.
“The measure of justice is, what was the process? Was there integrity in the process?” Judge Gurich explained. “Does everyone stand equally in front of the law, whether you’re poor or rich or black or white or anything else?”
DSA student and “chief of police” Juliet Ignacio said it was “exciting” to interact with a real judge and attorneys.
“We’ve gotten to experience what it is to be a real forensic scientist,” she said. “We’ve seen the reality. It’s not like TV at all. There’s more paperwork. It takes much longer to do everything, and recording everything is so important; the chain of custody log, the photo log. Without it, everything can be ruled inadmissible.”
Dove Public Schools’ Katie Parker said, “Their perceptions of burden of proof, particularly that of ‘beyond a reasonable doubt,’ had shifted and their idea of justice was no longer dictated by the simple pleasure of ‘convicting’ a favorite teacher.”
