Acting as lawyers representing the community, East Ridge High School juniors Jalyn Allen, left, and Hunter Henry go over notes before the start of a Youth Court mock trial at the Hamilton County Juvenile Court on Sunday.
Tennessee state prosecutor Boyd Patterson, right, looks over case material with Jo’nae Blair, a sophomore at East Ridge High School, for the mock trial. Blair was acting as a representative on behalf of the community.By next month a group of teenage boys and girls in Hamilton County will help decide the fate of some of their peers who’ve broken the law. On Sunday, they got a practice round.
Seated at opposing tables in Hamilton County Juvenile Court, teams of high school students whispered to each other as the room filled with a jury panel and more than 60 family, friends, court personnel and supporters.
Forty students from four area schools were selected for their leadership ability or potential to participate in the county’s first-ever youth court.
In Sunday’s practice case Jasmine Jones, a 17-year-old junior at Tyner Academy, played the role of the “respondent,” the term used instead of defendant.
Her character’s name was Evelyn Doe, a teenage girl who’d been caught driving after curfew with an open container of alcohol.