On Friday, March 5, Wareham High School had a special guest, Michael Ryan from the  Office of The Jury Commission in Boston.  Ryan visited Mr. Lazarus’s Case Studies and Law class to talk to them about why it is important to go to jury duty when you are summoned.
Ryan has been visiting the school for the past ten years, and this wasn’t  the same old boring lecture.  Ryan included a slide show about the history and significance of the jury which included famous lines from actors and actresses and many side jokes that tied into what he was talking about.   He gave examples of different liberal and civil cases, some of ordinary people and some of celebrity cases. An example of a civil case the stood out was that a police dog was sued three times!      Ryan also told students that they shouldn’t try to “weasel their way out of jury duty by not signing up to vote.”  He explained that the Office of the Jury Commission uses a census list, not the voting, to pick people for jury duty.  Sometimes though, this leads to mistakes: summoning letters have been sent to cats and dogs because they are on the mailing list and also occasionally a turtle or rabbit!  Sometimes even children get summons!
After the presentation, the class put on a mock trial with 12 potential jurors, a judge, a court officer, a defendant, the defendant’s lawyer, a prosecution, a clerk and witnesses.  First, court officer Ryan Vanderstaay  directed the court to rise when the judge entered.  Then judge Lauren Patton led the jury selection. The final jury included Dylon Pyne, Matt Bennet, Jake Lowe, Harrison Blackwell, Mark Whalen, Justin Silvera and Sarah Reuss.  Defendant Calvin Scannell and his lawyer Kimmie Griffen were introduced along with the clerk Tim Connely and prosecutor Chris Baile.  The students continued to act out the trial as if it were real. The Jury came to the verdict that the defendant was guilty, the judge sentenced him to a $200 fine and 60 days in jail. With this presentation hopefully all these student will commit to going to jury duty when they’re summoned.

Rachel Bonfiglio is a sophomore at Wareham High School