Hello! Cailin here. So, if you didn't know, I was in a program called Challenge B this past school year. Challenge B is a really hard school program for 8th grade. Part of it was doing a mock trial. I was Lee Porter, the house keeper who witnessed the murder of John Barrett. I did it in a British accent because when I was reading through the witness statement the way she spoke sounded like a British person to me. :)
This was the prosecution table with the prosecution witnesses on the bench behind them.
I am being sworn in as a witness by the bailiff.
Now I'm being questioned by Greta, my prosecution attorney.
I'm at the defense table with my fellow lawyers!
From the judges table looking down on the court.
No offense to the other team, but they weren't as good as us. We won both sides (there were two presentations of the case--one of us as prosecution and the other of us as defense) and, in my opinion, I don't think there was any contest between us. But they did a fairly good job. We were just better!
Here's my opening statement for the defense.
Opening Statement
Your Honor, members of the Jury, and
opposing Council, my name is Cailin Hale and I will be making the opening
statement in the case of the State vs. Barbara Allen Barrett. Allow me to
introduce my co-council, Sydney Robertson and Emily Shelton.
Your Honor, members of the Jury, you
are at the trial of a woman who is being accused of murder, which is a very
serious crime.
Barbara Allen Barrett is a 47 year
old woman with two kids and a husband. Her husband’s name is John Walker
Barrett. She has been married to him for about ten years. She sounds like a
normal woman, with a normal life, and a normal family.
Unfortunately, Barbara Barrett’s
life is anything BUT normal.
Her husband, John Barrett was an
abusive, cruel man who hurt and beat Barbara often.
From the day Barbara met John, he
was abusive with her. The very night they met, John pushed her into a
flowerbed! Two weeks before they got married, John hit her!
In the ten years they were married,
Barbara suffered terrible abuse at the hands of her cruel husband. That is a
burden that no woman should have to bear.
Not only did John beat her
physically, but mentally, too. He broke her heart by not being loyal to her.
Barbara found him with another woman.
John also constantly came home from
work late and drunk, and Barbara suffered because he did.
On the night of December 18, 1988,
John came home late, as he always did, around 9pm. He told her that he wanted a
divorce. Barbara had told him many times how much she loved him and needed him
and how she would die without him. When John told Barbara that he was leaving
her, Barbara’s world crumbled around her. Barbara finally saw her husband as
the man he truly was—a monster who had beaten her for years and who was capable
of killing her.
At that moment, Barbara was insane.
She had been driven to the limit because of John’s abuse, and she shot him.
What happened on the night of
December 18, 1988 was truly terrible, but Barbara could no more have controlled
her actions on that night than she could have controlled the wind and rain.
John Barrett’s death was not her fault.
Today, we will hear from our two
witnesses, the defendant, Barbara Allen Barrett, and psychologist Dana McGuire,
who deals especially with abused and battered woman.
Today the Defense Council will show
that Barbara really did suffer abuse at the hands of her husband. We will show
that Barbara Barrett has Battered Woman’s Syndrome, a form of insanity that
frequently comes with abused and battered women. We will show that Barbara
could not have controlled her actions on the night that she killed her husband.
December 18, 1988 ended a tragic
marriage full of pain, abuse, and sadness. John Barrett drove his wife to the
limit, and she shot him. However, it was not Barbara’s fault. At the end of
this trial, we, the Defense Council, wishes you to submit a vote of not-guilty
by reason of insanity by Battered Woman’s Syndrome. Thank you, your Honor.
