Mock Trial

For use by witnesses only during preliminary questioning and not during trial

State of Illinois v. the Defendant

The defendant __________ is accused of assault and aggravated battery using a knife. The police were called to Sandy Hill Drive on March 3, 2007. The defendant __________ was found standing over the alleged victim, Witness A __________. Witness A __________ was laying on the lawn in front of her home, unconscious, with a stab wound to the abdomen.  She was taken to the hospital and treated. Based on the statement of Witness B __________, the defendant was arrested.

Defendant, mother of one daughter  and office manager at local copy/printing shop(16), age 38

I went to Witness A's __________ house on March 3, 2007 to talk to Witness A __________ because I found out from Witness C __________ that Witness A __________ had been emailing my daughter from one of those social websites, posing as a young boy and sending "love notes" to her. My daughter doesn't have many friends at school and she was so excited about this boy emailing her and he seemed to like her. I told her to be careful and not take it too seriously but, you know young people, they don't seem to listen too well. Then, two weeks ago, my daughter started getting these terrible emails from this so-called boy. He told her that he was dropping her and that she was a loser and didn't deserve to have any friends or boyfriends. He, at least we thought it was a he, was sending messages to all the people on my daughter's friends list, nasty messages about my daughter. My daughter stopped eating and refused to go to school. She refused to go anywhere, never set foot outside the house. She cried all the time and was miserable.

Then one of the kids at school found out that this boy was nothing more than the mother of one of my daughter's classmates. For some reason this mother, the Witness A __________, was sending her messages disguised as a teenage boy. When I heard this I couldn't believe it. Why would she be doing this? She has breaking my daughter's heart. She was hurting her. I found out where she lived and went there to ask her why. I wanted to know why she was being so mean and awful to a teenage girl that she never met.

I went to the door but she didn't answer. I knocked and knocked. She was home. Her car was there and I could see her inside but she wouldn't come to the door. I shouted in her front window and bang the door until she came to open it. She had a knife in her hand. I didn't have the knife, she did. I stepped back because of the knife. I told her, as calmly as I could, I was there to find out why she was sending hurtful messages to my daughter. Why she had pretended to be this boy. She told me to go away. She didn't want to talk to me. Then she started walking towards me with the knife. I kept backing up but I kept asking her why at the same time. She finally lunged at me with the knife in hand and we struggled. It was during the struggle that she got hurt. I didn't do it on purpose. I was defending myself. I stopped struggling with her as soon as I saw she was hurt. Then the police came soon after. She never told me why she was sending those messages.

Witness A, single mother of one daughter (15), age 42

I was at home on the day it happened, doing some scrapbooking. I heard someone yelling outside my house, pounding on the door. I had no idea why. I looked out and saw this crazy, wild-eyed woman. I had no idea who she was. She kept pounding so I went to the door and, yes, I took the knife for protection. It was just the first thing I grabbed, a knife from the kitchen countertop. I just wanted her to go away. I stood at the door with the knife clearly showing and told her to go away. She came at me and we fought. She got  hold of the knife and stabbed me. I blanked out after being stabbed and came to in the hospital.

I did find out that she was the girl I was sending emails to with the help of my daughter. This girl had been spreading rumors all around the school that my daughter is a slut and sleeps around and all kinds of things. I was so angry that my daughter and I came up with the plan to give her a taste of her own medicine. It was probably not the best plan but we couldn't let her go on telling lies to people.  So we set up a fake account and started sending messages from an imaginary young boy about how shy he was but that he liked her at school and wanted to be her boyfriend. Maybe we took it too far. I can see that now. But that did not give the mother the right to come to my home and threaten me.

Witness B, neighbor of Witness A, retired, 65

I was watching the TV when I heard all this yelling coming from next door. Witness A __________ is usually at home at this time so I knew someone was home. But then I looked out and saw this strange woman, the Defendant __________, screaming at the top of her lungs to come out. She kept asking why this woman was doing something. She kept banging on the door and yelling until Witness A __________ came to open the door. I kept watching to make sure everything was okay. Then I saw a flash of metal. My neighbor had a knife and this crazy lady, the Defendant __________, kept coming up to her even while my neighbor had this big kitchen knife. She kept yelling about her daughter. Witness A __________ was yelling back but I couldn't understand them. When they started fighting, I called the police and they showed up just a few seconds later. I guess someone else had called. By the time the police got there my neighbor, Witness A __________, was on the ground. I couldn't see why because they had been fighting so closely.

Witness C, high school girl, 16

I go to school with the daughters of both the Defendant __________ and Witness A __________. I know that the Defendant's daughter has been getting some really nasty emails from this boy. They were really upsetting her. Then I heard Witness A's daughter say that she and her mom were sending these messages. I don't know why. The Defendant's daughter was not doing anything to anyone. When Witness A's daughter talked about it she talked like it was all a big joke. She was laughing and making fun of the Defendant's daughter. I was disgusted and I told the Defendant __________ what I had heard. She was really shocked and hurt. This girl was really doing nasty things and the Defendant's daughter was really taking it hard. I think she was thinking of killing herself even. She was so down.

Witness D, neighbor of Witness A, 48

I live right across the street from Witness A __________. I was outside putting fertilizer on the lawn and saw the Defendant's car drive up. It was a big, white car with one of those education license plates. This woman, never saw her before, got out of the car and started knocking on the front door, didn't use the doorbell. When Witness A __________ didn't answer the door the Defendant __________ kept banging on the door. She shouted into the house a couple of times. Finally Witness A __________ came to the door and right away they started arguing. I knew it wasn't good so I got my cell phone out in case it got worse, which it did. It looked like Witness A had a knife. She pulled it from behind her back, I think. Then she started advancing on the Defendant __________ and it looked like Witness A __________ tripped or something. She fell into the Defendant __________ and that started the fighting. I called the police then. Just as they got there, Witness A __________ went down and I didn't see her get up again. The Defendant __________ backed up right away. Then I saw them talk to Witness B __________ and they arrested the Defendant __________.

Witness E, Defendant's daughter, 16

My mom is the Defendant __________. I told her I had been talking to this boy online and that he was really sweet but he was shy and so he wouldn't tell me his name. He said he went to my school and we could eventually meet. I was talking to him back and forth for a few weeks. I know my mom said to be careful but I didn't think anything would happen. He seemed real. He knew about my school and me. So I believed it. Then it all changed. He started sending me these really bad messages. He told me I wasn't good enough for him. That he had heard things about me at school, that I was a loser and stuff. That hurt but it hurt worse when he started emailing my friends online and telling them things. I wanted to die I was so hurt. I didn't want to go to school or see anybody. I just wanted to stay home and never see another person again. I felt so bad.

Then my mom heard from a girl at school that the boy I had been talking to was really one of the girls I go to school with and her mom. Her mom! I couldn't believe it. I had never done anything to this girl. But I didn't even know her mom. Why would she want to hurt me so much? I cried even more that I had before. I never cried that much. I guess it shook my mom up a lot. She told me she was going to find out why. That was my fault, I guess. I told her that I would maybe feel better if I just knew why.

Witness F, Witness A's daughter, 15

My mom was only helping me, she thought. I didn't like the Defendant's daughter. The first day I met her she was kind of snobby to me so I just figured she was too good for the rest of us. She didn't hang out with many people and all. So I kind of wanted to knock her down a few. My mom is really good at listening to my problems so I told her about how I hated this girl. When my mom asked why I couldn't think of a really good reason so I lied. I told her she has spread rumors about me. So my mom got really mad and said we could give her some of her own medicine. She invented this kid and created an account for him. Then she helped me to write some emails and things to send to the Defendant's daughter. It was kind of a lousy thing to do but once my mom decided to do it I couldn't stop her and I couldn't tell her the truth. It was kind of funny too. This girls would walk around school and you could tell the next day after we sent her a message. She thought she was really cool and would walk around like she owned the place. So we built her up and then this boy dumped her. You could see this girl all upset at school. She stopped talking to anybody and didn't look like she cared about anything. Then she just stopped coming to school altogether, which was okay with me.

The Defendant had no right to come to my house and talk to my mom. My mom was just doing what she thought was best for me. She was just looking out for me. My mom only had the knife cause the Defendant is a crazy lady. She came to my house and yelled at my mom in front of everybody.

I'm sorry about the girl being so hurt but her mom deserves to go to jail. She threatened my mom.