DATE: Thursday, May 1, 1997                 TAG: 9704290139

SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS         PAGE: 05   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY CINDY CLAYTON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   74 lines

LAWYERS' DAUGHTERS SEE LEGAL PROFESSION IN (MOCK) ACTION

A General District Court jury last Thursday awarded nearly $4,500 to pizza delivery driver Kenny Clemmons, who was the victim of a hit-and-run accident April 5.

But Clemmons will never collect.

Though he and attorney Ida Outlaw McPherson argued his case before Judge Ann Gourdine and a jury of six, his case really wasn't valid. In fact, it wasn't even real.

Clemmons and attorneys from the Norfolk and Portsmouth Bar Association, Virginia Association of Black Women Attorneys (VABWA), the Tidewater Legal Aid Society and Virginia Beach law firm of Pender and Coward, put on the mock case to show young girls what happens in court every day.

The 20 girls, ages 8 to 15, from Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and Suffolk, participated in the mock trial as part of ``Take Our Daughters to Work Day,'' a program sponsored by the Ms. Foundation.

The program encourages parents and other role models to take their daughters and other girls to work so they can see how professional women contribute to the work force and the economy.

``So often they see things on the television regarding people being arrested and it's presented in a negative fashion. We wanted to give them a positive experience so that they can see careers open to them,'' Outlaw McPherson said.

McPherson's daughter, Brittany, 9, served as a court clerk, swearing in witnesses during the mock trial. Some of the girls served as jurors while others were bailiffs.

One girl served as co-counsel for the defendant - attorney Thelma Carroll - who was accused of hit-and-run and drunken driving.

The jury heard evidence that Carroll and a friend, Almeta Johnson, were driving home from a party when the car they were in hit Clemmons, causing him to soar through the air and break his right leg. Clemmons and his attorney argued that Carroll was driving the car and was at fault, but Carroll's attorney argued that Johnson was driving.

``As a judge . . . coming in here, I thought this was going to be a play courtroom, but this was true to life,'' said Gourdine, who is a substitute judge in Portsmouth General District Court. Her daughter, Emily, 9, served as a juror in the case.

As the jury retired to deliberate the case, Gourdine told those left in the courtroom that the goal of every trial is to get to the facts of the case.

``We're looking for the truth,'' she said. ``These are the toughest questions our system grapples with every day. It's difficult to get to the truth if someone is not telling the truth, but it's easy if you know the rules of the game.''

After the trial, Charmaine Walker, 8, of Suffolk, said her experience as a juror wasn't what she expected.

``It's hard when you have to decide what to do,'' she said. But she and fellow juror India Marsh, 8, also of Suffolk, agreed that they had to make a decision.

``We voted . . . then we came to the decision that he (Clemmons) should get money for his suffering and that whoever was driving the car should have to pay,'' said India.

``We also want to influence them about obeying the law,'' said Helivi Holland, an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Portsmouth. Holland brought along a friend, Ashley Bissel, 12.

``I do know a little bit about law enforcement,'' Ashley said. With lots of careers to chose from, she said she's considered becoming a lawyer, a judge or a marine biologist.

``I haven't decided what I really want to be yet,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by GARY C. KNAPP

LaShawndra Walker, 8, of Suffolk; Blair Thomas, 9, of Norfolk; and

India Marsh, 8, and Charmaine Walker, 8, both of Suffolk, serve as

``jurors'' in a mock drunken-driving civil trial.

India Marsh, 8, reminds her fellow juror, Charmaine Walker, to be

quiet.

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