Paulding Superior Court Judge Dean Bucci hosted local third graders earlier this month from Shelton Elementary School in his courtroom in the Watson Government complex in Dallas and offered them a rare opportunity to be witnesses to a prosecution.
But this mock trail exercise centered on the [fictional] theft of a peanut butter sandwich and was designed to give youngsters a close- up perspective on how our justice system works.
During the demonstration each step in the legal process was explained and questions were taken by both Judge Bucci and both attorneys about the trial proceeding itself or about the legal system and or even background on legal careers.
The exercise included picking a jury, hearing a case, deliberating on it, and even seeing an example of the penalty phase. According to Court Administrator Frank Baker, the Mock Trial demos are the brain-child of Judge Bucci.
“Just another example of us reaching out to the community and trying to educate our young people, and it’s been successful,” Baker said. “This has been a pilot program and it’s a great way that we can give back to the community.”
Bucci said that the exercise is also a great fit for a government unit within the school curriculum that the Mock Trial ties into and teachers have indicated an interest in. The Mock trial was the second such event since last year and Bucci said that he hoped to do more.
“I had an [Allgood Elementary] teacher ask if we could do it and the answer was yes, but it’s a question of how often can we do this, so we’re looking at possibly taking it on the road and doing it as a presentation, Bucci said.
This [fictional] offender received 12 months of probation for his conviction for the theft of a peanut butter sandwich. But because of his addiction to peanut butter and subsequent treatment, only one week was to be served behind bars.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to logistically work out some details in the future to give maximum exposure,” Baker said. “It’s a good civics lesson, it’s a good life lesson -- it’s the rubber meets the road.”
And by the end of the session for those youngsters who remained tuned-in, their working knowledge of how the legal process works may well exceed that of an average adult.
“It allows the kids to see the process and all the working parts of the legal system; and it can be difficult for anyone to understand, but the judge does a wonderful job of putting this down to a level that they can understand at their age. I think it’s a wonderful exercise,” Baker said.
Bucci summarized the ideal takeaway and value of the Mock Trials. “Hopefully it builds some confidence in the justice system that they see that these are nice, caring people, the prosecutors and defense attorneys [are] approachable, they explain why they do this, we follow the rules, and so the credibility and faith in the system is hopefully enhanced,” Bucci said.

Photo: R. Grant, Tina Thompson