|
|
|
|
|
VICTORIN WONDERLAND
MockTrial
Written byHeatherGascoigne
JusticeEducationSociety
|
Crown Counsel
Number1:
Number2: Number3:
Witnesses
Defence Counsel
Number1:
Number2: Number3:
Witnesses
Victor:
Deputy
Sheriff:
Number1:
Number2:
ROLES
TRIAL PROCEDURE
1.
The casestarts
when the sheriff calls“Orderin the court.
All rise.”Everyone
stands. The Sir enters
and takes his/her seat.
Everyone sits
down.
2.
The Sir calls
the case“Regina versus (names
ofthe accused).”
3.
The Crown and defence
lawyers introduce
themselves to theSir.
4.
The clerk reads out the charge (the indictment),and asks each
of the accused, “How do you
plead?”
5.
Each of the accused answers“Notguilty.”
6.
TheCrown
makesanopening statement
to thejury.
7.
TheCrown calls
its firstwitness.
8.
Thedefencecross-examines this
witness.
9.
Repeat thelasttwo
stepsfor each witness.
10.
TheCrown rises andsays
“That
concludes the Crown’s
case, YourHonour.”
11. Thedefencebegins bymaking
ashortopening statementto
thejury.
12.
Thedefencecalls
its first witness.
13.
TheCrown counselcross-examines
this witness.
14.
Repeat thelasttwo
stepsfor each witness.
15.
Defence and Crown
counsels
each makeaclosing statementto thejury.
Thedefencegoes
first, followed bythe Crown.
16.
TheSir instructs
the jury.
17. Juryleaves to decide a verdict.
18.
Juryreturns.
19.
The Sirasks for theverdict.
20.
TheSir lets theaccused
go freeif theverdict is
“Not guilty.”Ifthe verdict is
“Guilty,”the Sirasks one Crown lawyer
and onedefencelawyer
tospeakto sentence.TheSirthen sentencestheaccused.
21.
The court says,“Order
inthe Court.”Everyonestands,
theSirleavesandthe trial
ends.
SCRIPT
presiding.
(Everyone remains
standing until the Sir tells them
to be seated).
Sir: You may
be seated.
Are all parties present?
Nikos: (stands and addresses the Sir) Yes, Your
Honour.The
case
of The creature vs. Victor
Frankenstein. I am Nikos and these are my colleagues (each member presents
itself) .We are acting
on behalf of the creature.
Sir: Thank you. The
charge is the following:
Victor,you’re charged
for negligence, malpractice, and emotional and physical distress. How do you
plead?
Andrew: Not Guilty!
(Those
standing now sit down.)
Sir: (to
Prosecution)Please
proceed
withyour case.
Ray: (Opening Statement)
Your Honour, we intend to prove
that Victor deliberately
committed acts of negligence,
malpractice, and emotional and physical distress, from the moment he abandoned
his own creation, the night when he was given life, until now. (Ray sits down)
Jander: (stands up) To support our case,
we will be calling the creature and Walton. We no
wish to call the Victor’s creation.
(All
Witnesses remain standing
until they have been sworn
in.)
Sir: State your
name
and address, please.
Letelier: I don’t have a name, I’m Victor’s Creation, I live
in a forest in Ingolstad.
Sir: Take the Bible in your
right hand. Do you
swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth, so help you God?
Letelier: I do.
Nikos: Creature, please tell“The
Court”what happened
on the night you were created.
Letelier: It
was a cold, dark night. When I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was my
creator.
Nikos: Do you see the same person in the court room
today?
Letelier: Yes! It’s Him!
(points at Andrew)
Nikos: What was the reaction
that your creator had when he saw you?
Letelier: He ran away screaming: “He’s a live!”
Nikos: The cries were of
happiness?
Letelier: Not
at all.
Nikos: How did you feel?
Letelier: It’s
really hard to express… I think that I felt sad and angry at the same time,
because I was alive but the reaction of my master made me really annoyed and
angry.
Nikos: Thank you.
No further questions,
Your Honour.
Sir: (To Defence) Do you wish
to cross-examine this
witness?
Jeremy: (stands)Yes, Your Honour.
Creature, you
called Victor: ”Master”, so I believe that is your creator. I’m Wrong?
Letelier: No you are not.
Jeremy: So it means that you owe your life to him. Right?
Letelier: I
guess so…
Jeremy: You also said that you felt angry and sad. Now
tell me, why were you angry with Victor?
Letelier: Because I was alone and people chased me.
Jeremy: But as you said the people chased you, so Victor
actually never hurt you. I am right?
Letelier: Not physically, but he did it psychologically.
Jeremy: Before doing the next question I´d like to
show you this reliquary. Do you know who the owner of this is? And could you
tell us please who the owner is?
Letelier: Yes, I know. The owner is William Frankenstein.
Jeremy: And you were the one who killed him yes or no?
Letelier: Yes (looks to the floor).
Jeremy: So insulting you would have been a normal
reaction?
Letelier: Yes.
Jeremy: I have no further questions, Your Honour.
Sir: (to witness)You may step down.
(to Prosecution)You may call your next
witness.
Jander: We call Walton, a
friend of Victor and the creature.
Sir: State your
name
and address, please.
Pollo: I
am Walton,
and actually, I don’t have an static
home, because I’m doing a trip to the north Pole.
Sir: Take the Bible in your
right hand.
Do you swear
to tell
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth, so help you God?
Pollo: I do.
Sir: You may be
seated.
Jander: Walton, are you a
friend of Victor?
Pollo: I
was, until he abandoned his own creation!(angry) How you could do that!
Jander: And how it’s your
relationship with him in actual times?
Pollo: I
used to admire him, he told me his adventures and how he created this awesome
living thing! (points at Monster), I wanted to be just like him, he was so
smart and so perseverant, until I found the truth…
Jander: Can you tell the court
this truth?
Pollo: Of course I will, everybody must know that Victor
Frankenstein is the worst person in the whole world! He abandoned his creation,
it was almost like his son! He deserves banishment and pain for the rest of his
life!
Jander: Thank you.
No further questions,
Your Honour.
Sir: (To Defence) Do
you wish to cross-examine
this witness?
Joaco: Yes, Your Honor.
Walton, what did
you do to help this creature?
Pollo: Well, really I didn’t
have enough space to live with him or enough money
To buy some
clothes to him…
Joaco: So are you telling us
that you are accusing Victor of abandon his creation when you have done nothing
about it?
Pollo: I said I didn’t have
enough money, but I gave him Love!
Joaco: Can you answer the
question please?
Pollo: Yes, I am.
Joaco:
So can you tell
me the differences between your behavior and Victor’s
One?
Pollo: Well… There are not
such big differences…
Defence: No further questions, Your Honour.
Sir: (to
witness)You
may step down.
Ray: We rest
our case, Your Honour.
Sir: (to
Crown)Thank
you.
(toDefence)Will
the Defence
please
begin.
Joaco: (Opening Statement)We submit that this poor innocent man, Victor,
has been wrongfully
accused.
He abandoned his creation because he
was a very dangerous living thing, that could kill him anytime.
Pipe: We will call
Victor and Henry Clervals witnesses. I now call, the accused,
Victor to the stand.
Sir: State your
name
and address, please.
Victor: Victor. I live at
Geneva, street Waterfall, 1090.
Sir: Take the Bible in your
right hand.
Do you swear
to tell
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth, so help you God?
Victor: I do.
Sir: You may be
seated.
Pipe: Victor, can you tell
us the night that the Creature was created?
Pipe: Sure,
I gave live to him, and when he opened his eyes, I felt so happy
I
thought it was my best moment in my whole career so I ran away screaming!
Defence: Where does cries of happiness?
Pipe: Of course, but just for a moment, because
once he stood up I felt his hate!
His
eyes were so yellow and terrifying, his hands so big! I thought he was
Going
to kill me so I ran away.
Defence: Did you see your creature the next day?
Pipe: Yes.
I must confess that it took a long time for me to calm down, because my
creation, for what I worked so hard for at least 2 years hates me! I came back
to my home after 6 hours, it was afternoon, when I opened the door the first
thing I saw was that al my furniture, including my science materials were
destroyed. But the creature wasn’t there.
Pipe: Did you try to
search for the creature after you realized it wasn’t there?
Victor: Sure! I search at least for a whole day, but I couldn’t find a clue
about him!
Pipe: Thank you Victor. No further questions My Honour.
Sir: (To Prosecution) Do you
wish to
cross-examine this
witness?
Ray: Yes,
My Honour.
Victor,
is it true you didn’t give a name to your creation?
Victor: Yes, it’s true. But I didn’t had enough
time! When I came back for him, he was gone!
Ray: But what kind of father doesn’t give his
son a name?
Victor: Like I said before I couldn’t find him.
Ray: So you are saying you never see him again
until today?
Victor: Of course I did, but he was so angry… He hate
me! I couldn’t have a relax talk with him, because I was also screaming at me.
Ray: So you didn’t do anything to help your
creature, your own creation?
Victor: Well, I was so scared, so confused…
Ray: Can you answer my
question?
Victor: Fine
I admit it, I didn’t do anything, he hate me! But did somebody help him! NO!
Ray: Thanks you. No further questions, My Honour.
Defence: We call Henry Clerval,your Honour.
Sir: State your
name
and address.
Aris: Henry Clerval, Waterfall 1092.
Jeremy: Which is your relationship with VF?
Aris: I had been a
friend of Victor since we were kids, he was more interested on science and I
was interested on culture and society. Even though we had some differences,
that didn´t affect our friendship that has lingered over the years.
Jeremy: What happened after
Victor created the creature?
Aris: I met him after
that; I had to nurse him because he started having a nervous fever that lasted
for several months, also he had lost his senses.
Jeremy: (Sits) Now my
colleague want to ask a question.
Joaco: Could you tell the
court victor's reaction after receiving the news of William and Justine deaths?
Aris: He was really
depressed, so much that I decided to cheer him up, but I couldn´t and I tried
all the time I could. One of the ideas I had was to escort him to Scotland, but
it didn´t worked.
Joaco: (sits)
Pipe: Can I ask one
more question Your Honour?
Sir: Yes, you may.
Pipe: What did the
creature do when Victor refused of creating a partner for him?
Aris: The creature…
the creature killed me.
Pipe: And can you
explain The Court how are you here?
Aris: Victor revived
me by the use of electricity.
Pipe: Your Honour,
here it’s the proof that Henry is telling the truth (Shows Video)
Sir: (To Prosecution) Doyou
wish to
cross-examinethis
witness?
Nikos: No, My Honour.
Defence: We rest our case, YourHonour.
Sir: (to
Crown
and Defence) You maybeginyour summations.
Pipe: Thankyou, YourHonour.
(to Jury) Gentlemen ofthe Jury,
wehaveshown
that Victor
only
abandoned his creature because it’s a dangerous living thing, who killed two
close persons to his master.He never
tried to hurt physically or emotionally, it was all self-defense. Therefore,
wecan certain thatyou
will agreethatVictor is innocent ofcharges,and willfind
himnotguilty.
Sir: (to
Defence)Thankyou.
Jander: Thankyou, YourHonour.
(to Jury) Gentlemen
of theJury, wehaveshown
that Victorhurt his creation emotionally and physically, that he abandoned him,
knowing that may not be able to fend for himself. Therefore,you must
find himguiltyof charges!
Sir: (to
Crown)Thankyou.
Sir: (Jury
exists, and votes onallcharges based on theevidence.
A majority decision isallthatisneeded. A foreperson is
selected
to speakfor thejury. The Jury
returns).
VEREDICT
Sir: Order
in thecourt. Allrise.
TheEnd
GLOSSARY
1.
Trial: hearingbeforeaSir, or
Sirand jury, to decide
if aperson has broken
the law.
2. Verdict: findingbythe court
if aperson
is guiltyor notguilty.
3. Evidence: informationpresented
bylawyers
during atriali.e. witnesses, exhibits,
etc.
4. Witness: persongivinginformation
duringthe trial.
5. Exhibit: object, such as
aweaponorpieceof cloth
as part ofthe evidence used bylawyers to provea case.
6. Sentence: punishmentorderedbySirafter accused
is found guilty.
7. Sir person who finds aperson guiltyor not guilty.
8. Jury: groupof twelve
people
who find apersonguiltyornot guilty.
9. Crown lawyer for thegovernment
who has to provethataperson isguiltyof
Counsel: breakingthe law.
10. Defence lawyer who defendsaperson accused
of breaking the law.
Counsel:
11. Accused: person suspected of
breakingthe
law.
12. Court person assistingthe
Sir.
Clerk:
13. Sheriff: person who islikeapoliceofficerof
the court whose job itis to maintainsecurityin thecourtroom.
TIPS
·
Stick to the script although
some improvisation can occur.
·
Remember that witnesses cannot
be asked to make
statements on matters that they have not personally
seen or heard.
·
Crown and Defence Counsel
should always stand when
speaking.
·
Always address
the Sir as “Your Honour”
·
Sir
may ask other questions throughout
the trial to clarify points,
so lawyers should be prepared
to answer these.
·
Speak clearly!
