Wheeler students are on the case

It’s not often that a fifth grader gets convicted of armed robbery but that happened twice this past month in Valley Stream.

However, the children didn’t have to serve any jail time and were allowed to return to school with their classmates. Wheeler Avenue School’s fifth-grade students participated in a mock trial in the Village Hall Courtroom on June 7 and 8 to learn about the criminal justice system.

The children staged a make believe court case written by Village Justice Bob Bogle. Students played the part of the judge, defendant, bailiff, attorneys and witnesses. Those who didn’t have a prominent role were part of the jury.

Each day, two classes visited the courtroom. The fake case involved an armed robbery in front of a deli on Wheeler Avenue. The prosecution tries to prove that defendant John Smith, while armed with a knife, knocked down a woman outside the deli and stole her purse. The woman, Mary Murdock, was on her way to Wheeler Avenue School for a substitute teaching assignment. She got lost and stopped at the deli to ask for directions. Smith was arrested a few blocks away.

Both days, the jury convicted Smith, though in the June 8 trial with Maria Cassano and Mia Greco’s classes, it was a close 17-15 vote.

“I seemed innocent,” said Tyler Hwang, who played the defendant during the second trial. “I tried to persuade people so they wouldn’t vote me guilty.”

Bogle said this is the first year in a while he has conducted the mock trial with fifth-grade students, who study American History as part of their social studies curriculum. He and Wheeler Avenue teacher Guy Jacob resurrected the idea this year.

“This will be their first personal experience with how a criminal trial operates,” Bogle said. “I try to include a variety of legal issues to see what it’s like should they choose a career in law, or serve on a jury.”

Of course, Bogle said, he hopes their next experience in a courtroom isn’t as a defendant.