By Alison Torres
Attorney Melanie Hernandez is presenting her opening statement. “We’re here today as we sit here mourning the loss of Chassity Barnes’s young life due to someone’s selfish and thoughtless actions, because that’s exactly what this is. When the defendant decided to sit behind the wheel after a night out drinking with his friends, he was being selfish.” says delegate Hernandez as the opening to her speech.
Delegate Nikki Desai begins her opening remarks, “Good morning your honor, my name is Nikki Desai and I’m here with my partner on the behalf of the defence. On June 30th, 2018 the defendant went through a few bumps, had some laughs, made some memories and proceeded to drive as usual, only to be distracted by an old lady following him, one who wasn’t even wearing her prescription glasses while driving.”
Delegate Stephanie Gonzales answers questions as Imani Haynes being a witness of the crash. Prosecution asks delegate Gonzales, “what did you see before the crash?” She replies, “before the crash I saw that there was a vehicle swerving in between the left and right lane.”
“What did you do after seeing this?”
“After viewing this I called the police.”
“What happened after the crash?”
“After the crash I pulled over and went to go check on the passengers, I noticed there was this severely injured girl,” says Stephanie Gonzales.
Prosecution is attempting to enter Emerald Hayne (played by Gabriel Magee) as an expert in chemistry with the specialty in blood analysis. The Defence (Nikki Desai) states, “this is far too broad for this to be entered as expert analysis. Furthermore, delegate does not reach two out of the five requirements, there’s no record to show how long he’s been working, therefore, he does not meet the experience required to be an expert.” The judge rules him as an expert in chemistry with specialty in blood analysis.
Attorney Jenelle Murata questions Urban Rhodes.
“Is this a receipt from the bar that you work at?”
Rhodes responds, “I don’t recognize that document.”
Prosecution attempts to put the receipt into evidence, the defence objects, delegate Aanika Kashap states “My witness has not been able to validate the authenticity of this document therefore it is not admissible into evidence.” The judge decides to enter the receipt into evidence.
Urban Rhodes is a bartender at the bar that the group attended the night of the crash.
“And you gave him three shots of whiskey correct?” asks the prosecution attorney Jenelle Murata. He replies with “I gave him a round of shots.”
The prosecution follows up with “how many is a round of shots?”
Finally Rhodes replies with “Three shots.”
Delegate Erin Crittendon, playing Dr.Sidney Tate, is being questioned. She is a vital part of the defense since she’s the one that took the measurements of the alcohol level in the defendant.
“What field is your PhD in?” she was asked.
She responds with, “In Education.”
Prosecution then asks “So it’s not in biology or chemistry?”
She responds no.
Officer Jordan Cole is being questioned as the prosecution tries to put something in evidence. “No it has not,” says Officer Jordan Cole while being questioned if her SFST paperwork was tampered with. The paperwork gets entered into evidence as exhibit “a.”
Defence Attorney Jerell Moody is questioning a witness when he gets interrupted by the prosecution. Moody asks, “when he (the defendant) asked for an attorney why wasn’t he given one?” The defence is then interrupted by prosecution with an objection, the defense is asked to restate their question.
“Will everyone please stand as the judge walks in.” says bailiff Alex Horton. All delegates rise and the court is started. The attorneys are asked if they are ready to begin and the witnesses go under oath raising their right hand to promise to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.