ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 4, 1996 TAG: 9606040052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
130 YEARS AFTER "Crime and Punishment," William Fleming High School students find the literary character guilty of murder.
He said he killed her because he wanted to rid society of a despicable woman. He killed her sister because she walked in at the wrong time.
Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky left no doubt that Raskolnikov, a young university student, was guilty of murdering a pawnbroker and her sister in his 19th-century classic, "Crime and Punishment."
But the novel contains no trial. It ends before Raskolnikov is tried, although there is an epilogue indicating he was convicted of murder.
An advanced-placement English class at William Fleming High School used its creative imagination and a high-tech courtroom to give Raskolnikov his day in court Monday - 130 years after the novel was written.
The students at the Roanoke school wrote the script, prepared the legal arguments, presented the case and served as judge, bailiff, court reporters, attorneys and witnesses for his trial.
They chose an insanity plea: Raskolnikov thinks he is an extraordinary man and contends that murder is justified in some circumstances.
"I see nothing wrong with it," testified Raskolnikov, played by John Otey, a William Fleming senior. "I think murder is right in some cases."
Defense witnesses said he had been acting erratically before he killed the women. A doctor played by a student testified that Raskolnikov was mentally incompetent. But the student prosecutor argued that the defendant had meticulously planned the murder.
"This man is not extraordinary and insane. He is able to control his own actions," Sylvia Miller said.
The students staged the mock trial in an electronic setting with computers and a screen that not even the creative genius Dostoyevsky could have imagined.
The jurors used computers to keep notes during the trial. And they cast their ballots by computer when the case was over without deliberating together.
They transmitted their votes directly to the court reporter and the results were flashed on a larger screen in The Forum, the only electronic courtroom of its kind in a Virginia high school.
The jury panel consisted of Roanoke's newest judge, three lawyers, a School Board member and several high-ranking school officials, including Superintendent Wayne Harris.
The verdict: guilty with life imprisonment on one charge; innocent by reason of insanity on a second count.
The mock trial was designed to demonstrate the educational opportunities for students in the electronic courtroom, which was installed last year with part of a $7.2 million federal grant for magnet school facilities at William Fleming and William Ruffner Middle School.
The courtroom is used for student debates, speeches, plays, conflict resolution and other events. It is equipped with computer software for mock trials.
Elizabeth Allison, teacher of the advanced-placement class, said the mock trial showed how the traditional study of a novel in an English class can be extended to the 20th century through technology and the students' imagination.
Allison said the students decided to stage the trial because the electronic courtroom was available for the first time this year. "These are students of literature, not law; but they developed a trial, based on what they thought the characters would have said."
The jurors included Jacqueline Talevi, who will be sworn in Wednesday as a judge of Roanoke General District Court. She was impressed with the students and their preparation for the mock case. "All of them did well. I think it's a wonderful opportunity for them."
Talevi said she expects the courts to make greater use of computers, but she added it's unlikely that general district courts will have such a sophisticated system soon, because they do not have juries.
"I think computers are the thing of the future in processing information," she said, adding that computers are already being used in some Roanoke courts to review the criminal history of defendants while they are in court.
Several students said they enjoyed the mock trial, but they are unlikely to go into law because of it. Otey, who portrayed Raskolnikov, plans to study electrical engineering at Virginia Tech. Joanna Chopski, who played the judge, will study theater at James Madison University.
"I don't think I'd like to be a judge," she said. "There would be a lot of pressure."
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. 1. Taking notes on the computer duringby CNBthe mock trial is juror Jacqueline Talevi, judge-elect for Roanoke
General District Court. 2. William Fleming student Stephanie Lane
makes opening statements for the prosecution as the jurors sit in
front of their computers in The Forum, an electronic courtroom at
the school. Students use the facility for debates, mock trials,
student inquiries and conflict resolution. color.