"Court of Appeals case moves to school stage: 300 students at Creekside see 'real thing'" is the headline to this story today in the Indianapolis Star. Some quotes:
But the sight in the auditorium next door was anything but usual.Posted by Marcia Oddi at October 21, 2004 07:05 PMThere, justices of the Indiana Court of Appeals took to a makeshift bench to hear oral arguments in a case that would be witnessed by the school's eighth-graders.
The visit by the judiciary was organized by Judge Bernard "Buddy" Pylitt, who presides over Hamilton Superior Court 2. Pylitt is also dad to a sixth-grader at Creekside.
"This is a real case," Pylitt told the nearly 300 students. "This is not a 'Judge Judy' or something you see on TV."
Students heard both sides of the appeal involving the case of Albert Hardister, who was convicted in 2003 of dealing cocaine, possession of cocaine, possession of cocaine and a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and obstruction of justice.
The judges were prohibited from discussing any details of the case, but following arguments, judges John G. Baker, James S. Kirsch and Margret G. Robb answered dozens of questions from the students.
Those inquiries ranged from the salaries of the appellate court judges -- $110,000 -- to the strangest cases they had ever heard.
Kirsch said his favorite case involved determining whether or not a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig was a pet or a farm animal.