The Case: Mrs. Jane Doe is being charged by "Teen Protection" under fraud and reckless endangerment. Is she guilty of these crimes. Prosecution has to prove that she is guilty. Defense has to prove she did not do anything wrong.
Instructions: Listed below is case briefs. Each side has two "statements" and two "exhibits". Read through these for both sides. Get together with your teammate and discuss how you will "prove" you case.
By
Monday March 9th - Prosecution and Defense will present their
"Opening Statement". Basically this is just a summary of your POV in the case. Prosecution states why Jane Doe is guilty and what evidence supports proves she is guilty. Defense states why she is not guilty and what evidence shows this. This can be as short or as long as you feel necessary.
After "opening statements" we can start "cross examination". This is where the fun begins. Each team can ask as many questions as they want to witnesses on the opposite side. Post the list of questions you want to ask, and respond to the ones you are being asked. You can go back and forth like a debate. You can have two weeks for this, so you don't feel rushed or feel the need to dedicate your time to this. The purpose of the cross is to find flaws or contradictions in the opposite sides witness and their POV - you want to weaken their case and strengthen yours.
On
Monday March 23rd, teams will post their "Closing Argument". Summarize your proceedings . Point out to any contradictions or flaws you think you exposed in the opposite side and why you think jury should vote in your favor.
We will then have Jury that is rest of the lazy bums not participating cast their verdict with me or Raj. The mods will cast a vote in case of a tie. The winning team will get a very special reward.
Tips:
1) Relax, this is just like any other debate. Try not to worry too much about the courtroom setting or info worry you. Take it like any other debate. You will have plenty of time.
2) Lawyers can be sneaky. When you cross, spice things up, come up with sneaky questions, try to force people into answers that contradict their statements. Maybe force them to answer YES or NO.
3) They say law is free of emotion, but the jury is not. If you think you can swing the jury with emotions pack your answers or your statement with them.
4) You can make it as long or short as you want. You can tell a story for a question or answer it in one word. Your choice. Off the point answers may annoy lawyers.
5) You can put as much as effort as you want. Some lawyers BS their way through everything, they just put on a convincing show. Some lawyers do a lot of research. If you google something that helps your case then go for it.
6) Exhibits help you. Refer to your exhibits in answers. If you can try to use the opposite sides exhibit to work for you.
7) Amicus Curiae: This means friend of the court. Usually lawyers will approach special interest groups or influential people to write case briefs or help with the case. These interest groups offer help to a side that promotes the interest of their group. You can try and recruit one another person from the forum to your side. Remember that in a law court, everything has to be disclosed. Publicly state who you intend to recruit and why. They must also join you publicly and let everyone know they are helping your team.
8) Tareeq pe Tareeq: If you really need an extension on completing a task ask. If both teams agree deadlines can be extended.
Case BriefsProsecution statements and evidence:
Statement of Mohan B. (Activist Teen Protection)
On 12th October 2008 a concerned parent Jose Sanchez called our office. His sixteen year old daughter Julie was battling for life in the hospital, after an attempted suicide. Her suicide note indicated that the cause of her suicide was due to an online romance gone sour. Being the director of the local branch of "Teen Protection" he wanted us to know about it. He wanted us to find out more and help protect kids from facing such a fate in the future.
Upon investigation we discovered that over the summer Julie had befriended a boy called Jackie Shaw on MySpace. Jackie claimed to be a student in the neighboring school. He claimed to know many of her friends and used that to get close to her. They got very close and Julie professed falling in love with him. Jackie Shaw reciprocated her feelings and promised that they should meet up when school started again and he came back to town. They exchanged messages every week. When school started Julie was very anxious to meet him and was upset that he did not keep his promise.
Then all of a sudden Jackie turned on her. He told her that he knew she had physical relationships with other boys. He called her many filthy names and told her he wished she was dead. She was a horrible person and did not deserve to live. She begged him to forgive her, but when he refused she decided to punish herself.
We decided to go to Jackie's school and find out his side of the story, but were shocked to see there was no Jackie Shaw in the school. Everything about Jackie was fabricated. That is when we decided to have the police department investigate matters further. This no longer seemed like an online romance gone sour. Someone seemed to have deliberately set this girl up. Whether it was a vengeful friend or some sick person on the internet, we had to serve justice.
The Police traced the IP addresses of many messages and emails to Julie to the Doe residence. Upon questioning Mrs. Doe immediately confessed to using a fake id for Jackie Shaw to get to Julie. We were shocked to hear her immediate confession and her lack of remorse for everything. A sixteen year old girl spent three weeks in the hospital battling for life. Her life has not been the same since. This girl's precious teenage year have been ruined - all because Mrs. Jane Doe thought it was Ok to harass a teenager like this.
Statement of Jose Sanchez (Father of victim Julie)
I know Julie is not the perfect kid. Her mother passed away when she was six. I have singlehandedly raised Julie and her two brothers. My parental skills maybe lacking, but I love my kids dearly. Most of my time is devoting to running our family pizzeria, but I do what I need to do to take care of my kids. Look at my older son Juan, he graduated high school with honors and got a football scholarship to college. That's the kind of father I am, I make them realize dreams I could never imagine.
Julie has been a challenge, especially since she went to high school. There is so much pressure on these girls nowadays. Boys, sex, alcohol, drugs, it is hard for a parent to catch up. It is hard for parents to keep up. Perhaps being a single father with two boys, I was not able to look after my little girl like I should have. You can imagine how heartbroken I was when I found out she was going to parties, getting drunk and having sex. I feel horrible, I would have never even known till she freaked out she might be pregnant and asked Juan for help. Our family had a hard time working through her problems. We got her enrolled in a student help group at church and tried to bring positive influences in her life.
This summer things were turning for the better. She went with our church group for a volunteer week at Costa Rica and took a summer course to get her grades back up. She met this boy online called Jackie. I was naturally wary. Things were just getting better and the last thing I wanted was her getting into bad stuff online. It's scary world out there. But Julie described Jackie to be a wonderful boy, he sounded like he was a good kid from a good family, and good traditional values. She promised me she would not do anything until Jackie came over and I could meet him personally.
When I asked her about meeting Jackie this semester, she said she did not speak to him anymore. I did not think much into it as her school grades were improving, she was not partying out anymore. How wrong I was, that Jackie was poisoning my girls mind with horrid thoughts. Worse it was Mrs. Jane Doe pretending to be Jackie harassing my girl. You would think a mother of two girls herself would know what it is like for girls in high school and be sympathetic. You would think a mother would help a girl in trouble rather than make matters worse. It angers me so much to know a parent – especially a mother could drive a girl to suicide like this. Julie made a lot of bad choices in life, but none to deserve such emotional suffering. She ruined my daughter's life just when we were bringing it back on track.
Extracts from MySpace Terms & Conditions (From MySpace.com)
Illegal or prohibited activity is
- impersonating or attempting to impersonate another Member, person or entity;
- using any information obtained from the MySpace Services in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person or entity, or attempting to do the same;
Prohibited activity is
- is patently offensive and promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual;
- Harasses or advocates harassment of another person
Extracts of AIM chat transcript between Jackie and Diane
Jackie: You have been lying to me Julie
Julie: Why do you say things like that?
Jackie: Because it is true. You sleep with every boy you meet. I could list all the boys, its endless.
Julie: I'm sorry Jackie. I'm not like that anymore.
Jackie: Don't lie. You are a slut and a whore. You just cheat and sleep with people.
Julie: Please don't say that Jackie. Give me a chance.
Jackie: People like you don't deserve second chances. I wish I had never met you. I wish you were dead.
Julie: You don't mean that don't you.
Jackie: Don't you feel any shame for what you did. Don't you wish you were dead? You are a sick person. I'd rather be dead than a slut like you. You should be repenting for your actions.
Defense Statements & Evidence
Statement of Mrs. Jane Doe (Defendant)
I have done nothing wrong. Everything I did was to protect my daughter, Diane. Everyone keeps defending Julie, but she had it coming. You have no idea how she treated Diane. They used to be best friends in Middle School you know, inseparable like twins.
When they went to high school Julie completely cut Diane out of her life. She was with the popular girls now, and wanted nothing to do with a simple girl like Diane. She would tease and torment Diane and make fun of her glasses and braces. That did not last long, Diane's braces were due to be taken out anyways and at Diane's insistence we got her contacts even though our insurance would not cover it. Diane returned to school after winter break, she was looking better and feeling confident. Boys started lining up to go out with her. But Diane knows our house rules and expectations. It seemed that Julie could not handle Diane's popularity.
She increased her teasing and tormenting more. She would ridicule everything Diane did. She would taunt Diane for doing well in school, call her teachers pet and ask "are you sleeping with the professors". She would make fun of our family values and torment Diane about being a virgin. Then Diane suddenly became depressed and started acting disconnected from everything. Her appetite was gone and she stopped telling us what was going on in school. Then my friend Mrs. Mishra told me about MySpace. She suggested that all the kids had accounts there and chatted every day. Her kids were there too. She said, I might be able to talk to her friends there and find out.
When I went on there I was shocked. Julie's page had pictures of Diane with her boyfriend Bobby. Apparently Julie and her friends had put out some sort of sick challenge for boys to try and sleep with Diane. Bobby claimed to have taken Diane's virginity and was treated like a hero. I was also sickened at the images of Julie at various parties making out with boys. Everyone was discussing how cool and popular she was and wanted to be just like her.
That was just too much for me. Apparently her father is not fulfilling his responsibilities. How any good parent could let their daughter be so promiscuous and so disrespectful to people? Someone had to teach that Julie a lesson. She is a bad influence on the school. Someone had to show her the error of her ways, make her realize the shame and guilt of her actions, and I did it before she ruined someone else's life. I am sorry that she took it to the extreme, but it is not my fault. Maybe it would not be so if her father actually looked out for her. I did not plan to hurt anyone; just teach them a life lesson.
Statement of Diane Doe (Defendant's daughter)
I was saddened to hear about Julie's suicide attempt. I am glad to know that she is doing better and back in school again. We used to be best friends in middle school. She lived down the block and we would walk to school together, bake cookies at sleepovers and watch movies.
Things changed freshman year in high school. Julie was always one of the best looking girls in school and she immediately got popular in high school. Everyone wanted to be friends with her, all boys wanted to ask her out and she thoroughly enjoyed the attention. Pretty soon she was into usual high school downward spiral – parties, alcohol, drugs, boys and sex. She tried to drag me down with her too. She would invite me to parties; promise to set me up with boys. I told her that my parents did not appreciate that kind of behavior and if she really was my friend, she would give up her bad habits and be like we were in middle school.
She did not like someone standing up to her like that. All of a sudden she turned on me. She would make fun of me, how ugly I looked and how no boy in his right mind could ever be interested in me. That's why she was jealous when boys were interested in me too. That's when she decided to make a game about it. She mocked my family values and rules and challenged boys to try and get to sleep with me.
When I met Bobby he was a nice guy. We would just hang out in the library and study together, go watch a movie or something. He seemed to respect what I believed in. That made me fall for him. One evening I almost went too far but had the presence of mind to stop. He was furious, and accused me of leading him on and then pretending I did nothing. I told him off that he was being part of Julie's game. He said he just cared about me and thought I cared about him too. I was pretty sure Julie brainwashed him. He started asking me if he was not good enough and if the professors at school were being more satisfactory. That's when I broke up with him.
That rat had taken pictures of us together. The next day he gave them to Julie claiming to have fulfilled her challenge and gave her those pictures. She posted them on her site. It just made me feel horrible. My mom and dad would be heartbroken if they heard the rumors about me in school. I had worked so hard to be a good kid and succeed in school and Julie was ruining everything. People would stare and point at me in the hallways and even I felt I wanted to die. Luckily, I had the courage to live with it.
I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for my mom to have seen those pictures on Julie's site. How could any mom see such lies about their daughter and not be mad. She did not mean to cause harm to Julie, she just wanted to protect me – and other girls like me.
Excerpts from Julie's MySpace page
Megan1: ZOMG! That's Diane. Haha I always knew she was not that innocent.
JulieRockz: No kidding huh! Such a pretentious two faced *****. She's all over Bobby
Wanita: Great pics Julie. What a **** . That's how she must get her grades so high too. She aint all that smart.
Excerpts from safety tips from the "Teen protection" website (from wiredkids.com)
- NEVER give personal information to anyone you have not met in person. While it is human nature to want to know about the other person, their name, age, what they look like, where they live, this information is not needed to carry on a conversation. If someone presses you for this type of information, back away! Especially if the requests come early in your relationship. Most users with legitimate intentions will realize WHY you are reluctant to tell them, and will respect your desire to play it safe.
- Choose your screen name carefully. Never include your real name, or any elements of it. Choose something fun, yet gender neutral. You may think that having a risqu screen name is cute, but be advised, you will attract the type of people your screen name appeals to. A screen name such as "Panda" is much less provocative than "SexMagnet". And much less offensive to many of your fellow netizens.
