# Mock Trial Cases for Class: One Live Jury Simulation Source: https://decka.dev/classroom/politics-and-civics/mock-trial-cases Run an original, fictional case with your class as the jury. Students lean guilty, not sure or not guilty on their phones after the charge and after each of four witnesses, then vote a verdict, and the big screen shows who changed their minds. ## What it teaches Students see what “beyond reasonable doubt” asks of a juror in their own jury's numbers. They read what each witness did to the room's leanings, trace who changed their minds between the charge and the last witness, set the verdict under the rule you chose beside what the other rule would decide, and count how many jurors still not sure after the last witness voted guilty anyway. ## Mock trial cases, run as a live jury simulation Most mock trial cases come as packets to print: a case summary, witness statements and roles for counsel. This one is a live jury simulation: your class is the jury, and the case comes to them on the big screen and their phones. It is an original case written for this lesson, The People v. Casey Rowan, and every person, place and fact in it is invented. A silver 1960s film camera priced at $900 vanished from Mira Castell's stall at a rainy night market between 8:40 and 8:50 pm. Casey Rowan was there that evening, and four days later sold a camera of the same model, with a small dent on its top, to a second-hand shop for $420. Casey says they did not take it. Everyone who scans the code is a juror. The charge is read on its own, then the four agreed facts, and every juror leans guilty, not sure or not guilty on their phone. Four witnesses follow, two called by each side: Mira Castell, who owns the stall; Owen Marsh, a shopper who saw someone in a bright yellow raincoat hurry away; June Okafor, who sold yellow rain ponchos all evening; and Sam Bexley, Casey's flatmate. After each witness the jury leans again, and on the next step the big screen deals that leaning beside the one before it, so the room sees what each witness changed. Six students can read the four statements and the two closing speeches aloud; they lean and vote with everyone else. After the closing speeches, the judge's instruction comes to every phone, and to the screen when the jury votes: guilty only if you are sure, beyond reasonable doubt, that Casey took the camera. The jury deliberates at tables, then each juror votes guilty or not guilty. The verdict plays in three presses. First, the leaning after the last witness lands beside the leaning before any witness. Then every juror walks from where they started to where they ended, so the room sees who changed their minds. Last, each row's net change prints and the verdict stamps under the rule you chose, with what the other rule would decide beside it. Under the verdict, a line counts reasonable doubt: of everyone who voted, how many were still not sure after the last witness, and how many of those voted guilty anyway. The closings and the deliberation added arguments, not evidence, and the debrief asks the room about that count. The case is built for a fair room to split: every prosecution fact has an innocent reading and every defence fact a guilty one, nobody saw the camera taken, and the fact that could settle it, whether the sold camera's dent is Mira's, is not in evidence. The rule is yours to choose. This page plays the unanimous jury, where a split jury is hung. The simple-majority jury, where a simple majority decides the verdict, is the same case under “Other versions” when you open the lesson in Decka. Each says what the other rule would have decided, so the class can argue which a verdict should need. Counts only: the screen never names a juror or a seat. Each phone shows its own leanings and its own path, then the jury's verdict beside its own. Try the screen-and-phone preview: you run the projector's steps and play one juror's phone, and fictional classmates lean and vote through the same runtime as the lesson; they are illustrative, not observations of a real class. ## Classroom debrief If some of you leaned guilty before any witness spoke: the law starts every juror at not guilty, so why is that hard? If nobody did, what kept you there? Which witness moved you: Owen Marsh, who saw someone in a yellow raincoat hurry away, or June Okafor, who sold yellow ponchos all evening? Was it what they saw, or how it sounded? If nobody moved, did the witnesses add anything? You saw the jury's leaning before each witness spoke. Did it pull yours? If any of you were still not sure after the last witness and voted guilty, what changed between the two? What does “beyond reasonable doubt” ask of a juror? If the other rule would have decided differently, should a verdict need everyone, or is a majority enough to find someone guilty? If both rules agree, when would they not? If the jury found Casey guilty, which fact could not be explained any other way? If not guilty, does that mean Casey didn't take it? If it was hung, is that a failure, or the system working? What one piece of evidence would have ended the doubt: the dent, a serial number, Casey's half hour from 8:50 to 9:20, or why Casey, who already owned this model, offered $500 for another? ## Mock trial questions, answered ### Is the case real? No. The People v. Casey Rowan is an original case written for this lesson, and every person, place and fact in it is invented; the lesson's screens say it is fictional. It is built to be balanced, so a fair jury can split. ### Who plays the lawyers and the witnesses? Nobody has to: the case is on the big screen and every phone, and everyone who scans the code is a juror. To give the case voices, choose six students to read the four witness statements and the two closing speeches aloud. They lean and vote with the rest of the jury. ### Unanimous or simple majority: how do I choose the rule? By the version you run. This page plays the unanimous jury, where a split jury is hung. The simple-majority jury, where a simple majority decides the verdict, is the same case under “Other versions” when you open the lesson in Decka. Either way the screen says what the other rule would have decided. ### Can I use my own mock trial case? Yes. The charge, the four agreed facts, each witness's name and statement, both closing speeches and the judge's instruction are wording you can change before you run it, so the same steps can try a case your class writes: one charge, four witnesses and two closings. ### Does anyone see how I leaned or voted? No. The screen shows counts only, never a name or a seat, and a leaning's count appears only once that leaning has closed. Each phone shows its owner's own leanings and path, and nobody else's. In a small class a lone juror who changed their mind is still a count of one, the same exposure as any tally. ### What if a student joins late or misses a leaning? They count wherever they answered. Only jurors who leaned both before any witness and after the last are in the flow and its net changes; anyone who leaned at only one of those times is counted under the board, never dropped. The reasonable-doubt line counts everyone who voted. ### How long does it take? Allow about forty minutes: the charge and four witnesses with a leaning after each, the closing speeches, up to five minutes of deliberation at tables, the vote, the verdict's three presses and the debrief. No step runs on a timer; you move each one on when the room is ready. ## Run the lesson Present the boards in PowerPoint and Decka. Students scan a QR code or open the session link to join from their phone browsers.