By Lois Dunca

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The Trial

Overview

• Characters• The Plot• The Plot Thickens• Trial Procedure• Prosecution’s Case• Defense’s Case• Possible Objections

• Responses to Objections• Vocabulary/Expressions• Role Choices

Mr. Griffin

• A very strict English teacher because of his desire to really help his students

• Very stressed by his work and has to take heart medicine every hour on the hour

Mrs. Griffin

• Mr. Griffin’s pregnant wife

• Knows who all Mr. Griffin’s students are because he cares about them so much that he’s always talking to her about them

Jeff Garrett

• A star player on the high school’s football team

• Mark Kinney’s best friend

• Betsy Cline’s boyfriend

• Not doing well in Mr. Griffin’s class

Betsy Cline

• A cheerleader• Jeff Garrett’s

girlfriend• Secretly has a

crush on Mark Kinney

• Not doing well in Mr. Griffin’s class

Mark Kinney

• Strange but magnetic person

• Lives with aunt and uncle because his parents are both dead

• Failed Mr. Griffin’s class last year and failing again this year

Irv Kinney

• Mark’s uncle• Suspects Mark set the

fire that killed his parents since they were planning on sending him to juvenile hall after he stole their credit cards

• Once caught Mark and Jeff throwing a burning cat off a roof

David Ruggles

• Student body president• Getting a B in Mr.

Griffin’s class• Has a lot of other

responsibilities since his father abandoned him, his mother, and his grandmother when David was six.

Sue McConnell

• Best student in the school

• Secretly has a crush on David Ruggles, but he doesn’t seem to know she’s alive

• Has an A in Mr. Griffin’s class, but did get a B on a paper for that class recently

Debra Braden

• The Ruggle’s nosy neighbor

• Spends most of her time watching what her neighbors are doing

• Has made 18 calls to the police this year about suspicious activity in her neighborhood

The Plot

• Mark wants to kidnap and scare Mr. Griffin so he’ll agree to become an easier teacher.

• Mark gets David to ask Sue to keep Mr. Griffin late after school to discuss a paper she turned in.

The Plot

• When Mr. Griffin goes to the empty parking lot, Mark and Jeff will be waiting in his car and will put a paper bag over his head, blindfold him, and take him to the mountains.

The Plot

• Betsy will make an alibi for Mark and Jeff by calling her mother at work about the boys eating up a cake Betsy will throw down the garbage disposal.

• Betsy will then go pick Mark and Jeff up from the mountains.

The Plot Thickens

• Betsy gets a speeding ticket and calls attention to herself by threatening to have her dad, the police chief, fire the officer.

• Sue goes out to the parking lot with Mr. Griffin and becomes a witness to the crime.

The Plot Thickens

• Mr. Griffin thinks only of Sue’s safety and yells at her to run, so she feels extremely guilty about her role.

• Mr. Griffin refuses to beg so Mark convinces everyone to leave Mr. Griffin alone on the mountain all night.

The Plot Thickens

• Mr. Griffin has a heart attack and dies because he can’t take his heart medicine.

• Mark convinces everyone to bury Mr. Griffin there, but not before David takes Mr. Griffin’s college ring and covers Mr. Griffin’s face with his letterman’s jacket.

The Plot Thickens

• When Betsy and David try to abandon Mr. Griffin’s car at an airport, they are seen and followed by the police officer that gave Betsy the ticket.

• Sue is interrogated by the police and is unconvincing.

The Plot Thickens

• Mrs. Griffin refuses to believe Sue saw a beautiful blond in a dark green mini-skirt waiting for Mr. Griffin in his car.

• David’s grandmother finds and takes Mr. Griffin’s ring believing that its David’s father and David knows where he is.

The Plot Thickens

• Mark kills David’s grandmother and makes it look like an accident, but the nosy neighbor reported seeing a strange teenage boy in a brown sweater in the Ruggles’ house at the time of the murder.

The Plot Thickens• Jeff can’t abandon

Mr. Griffin’s car in the desert as planned because his alibi to his parents was that he was staying overnight at David’s, but a sleepover right after a murder is discovered is in poor taste.

The Plot Thickens

• Sue notices Mark is wearing a brown sweater when she hears of the murder of David’s grandmother, so ties her up at her house and sets her house on fire.

• Fortunately, the police and Mrs. Griffin arrive just as Mark is fleeing.

Trial Procedure

• Opening statements (1 minute per side)

• Testimony and cross-examination (15 minutes per side)

• Closing statements (1 minutes per side)

• Judge’s decision

Prosecution’s Case

• Mark had strong motives for each crime.

• Mark knew about Mr. Griffin’s heart problem.

• Mark has shown little or no remorse.

• Mark has a history of violence.

Defense’s Case• Mr. Griffin died of a heart

attack, not murder.• Mark didn’t know about Mr.

Griffin’s heart problem.• David was as involved or more

involved than Mark.• Sue is not believable because

of her feelings for David.• A brown sweater at dusk 100

feet away isn’t enough to identify anyone.

Possible Objections

• Leading the witness: putting words into a witness’s mouth by making statements instead of asking real questions.

• Badgering the witness: scaring or being rude to a witness.

• Irrelevant: bringing up issues that won’t help the judge or jury decide this particular case.

Responses to Objections

• Sustained: the objection is a good one. The jury should ignore what the lawyer/witness just said.

• Overruled: the objection is not good. Please continue.

Additional Vocabulary/Expressions

• Order in the court.• May I remind you that you are under oath.• Please restate your question.• If you _____, I will hold you in contempt of court.• Have you any further questions?• Not guilty on grounds of insanity. • 1st degree murder: premeditated, planned.• Involuntary manslaughter: through an accident

or carelessness you cause someone to die.

Role Choices

Prosecution Team• Attorney(s)• Sue McConnell• David Ruggles• Debra Braden• Detective Baca• Psychiatrist # 1• Mrs. Ruggles• Mrs. McConnell

Defense Team• Attorney(s)• Mark Kinney• Jeff Garrett• Irv Kinney• Psychiatrist #2• Coroner

Miscellaneous

• Judge

• Bailiff

• Jury