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Stoeffel Didn't Do It! ...As Justice Prevails

BY DOROTHY EVANS

The American system of justice was recently played out on the Newtown Middle

School stage, and now an innocent man walks free.

"I think watching the trial from the audience was a terrific experience for

all of us," said teacher Nancy Koonce, who helped produce the mock murder play

that was performed May 8.

Mrs Koonce also helped direct the follow-up trial that was held Thursday, May

29.

After the trial was over, Mrs Koonce said the interdisciplinary project was

more than just a "lot of fun."

Students found out that there are a lot of checks and balances in our legal

system, she said, ways to prevent an innocent man from being convicted.

In the real world, after a "not guilty" verdict there might be another trial

to convict the real killer (or killers).

The May 29 trial is described below by middle school court reporter Lindsay

Kelkres.

"Did Rudolph Stoeffel

Murder Andrew Peck?"

"Or was he arrested prematurely?" asked Brian Budnick, playing attorney

Fletcher in the "Who done it" trial scripted by the Newtown Middle School

parent Jody Murphy.

That was the critical question in the Newtown Middle School auditorium on

Thursday, May 29. This was the trial of Rudolph Stoeffel. If we had had the

forensic science and technology we do today, perhaps the evidence would have

pointed toward other suspects other than Rudolph Stoeffel.

The evening started with the attorneys being mobbed [by the paparazzi] as the

guards brought in the defendant.

Attorney Richards, played by Shannon Kohn, and attorney Morgan, played by Beth

English, were the prosecutors who called up several witnesses: Dr William F.

Gilbert (a medical doctor), Sergeant Henrietta Aaron Lloyd, Dr William Gates

Smythe (a forensic scientist), Marie Bonar (a paper girl), Dr Anne Shirley

Kene (criminal scientist), Alexander Gram Black (milkman), Dr Victoria Lake

(ballistics expert) and Anna E. Reed (forensic scientist).

In defense of Rudolph, attorney Fletcher, played by Brian Budnick, and

attorney Adams, played by Jesse Soffer, took time to offer a few vignettes to

explain what they thought had happened the day of the crime.

The first displayed Mary and Alice teaming up to kill Andrew Peck, while

attempting to frame Rudolph.

Another showed Andrew Peck, who was played by middle school principal Les

Weintraub, as the main character acting out the scene of his death when he was

shot five times.

Mary Peck shot him four times and he still wasn't dead, so Alice Lockwood took

the gun and finished him off. And this is true; when the foreman announced the

outcome, the audience stood up and cheered.

Apparently the vignettes were so convincing that, following Judge Jane

Glander's instructions to the jurors, they needed only two minutes to return

with the verdict of not guilty.

It was a very great experience for all those who participated to learn how our

justice system works.

"I love acting as a lawyer!" Shannon Kohn exclaimed.

By Lindsay Kelkres