The case of the hallway runner

Luke Johnson was in trouble. Someone had been seen running down a school hallway, and the prosecution said Luke was the culprit.

The case against him had a few problems.

One witness saw a student with brown hair. Another remembered a sports jersey. Luke's teacher saw him run to the classroom door but could not say what happened after he went through it. And the school nurse, who had treated Luke's hurt knee, could not identify the runner.

That left a classroom of Herrman Elementary School third graders with a question: Was it enough to find Luke guilty?

On Constitution Day, Sept. 17, the students served as jurors in a live, nationwide mock trial streamed from a Kansas courtroom, illustrating key civics concepts and aligning with state and national civics education standards. Their job was to listen to the witnesses, discuss what they had heard, and submit a verdict.

In the mock case, third grader Luke Johnson was accused of breaking a school rule by running in the hallway on his way to a movie. A former principal saw a student running but did not see his face. Luke's teacher saw him run to the classroom door but could not say what he did once he was in the hall. Witnesses recalled brown hair and a sports jersey, while the school nurse said she had treated Luke's injured knee and told him not to run.

Their teacher, Jennifer Geier, had prepared them with practice cases and conversations about the people who work in a courtroom. She also used situations closer to home: What happens when one student says another did something, and the teacher didn't see it?

The Case

The charge was running in the hallway. During the trial, the students heard that Luke had been excited about a movie. They also heard that he had hurt his knee earlier and the nurse had told him to stay off it. The lawyers argued over what the witnesses saw and whether their descriptions pointed to Luke.

As the case took breaks for discussion, Geier encouraged her students to look beyond their first impressions. This approach aimed to develop their critical thinking skills by showing how careful analysis helps them make fair decisions and understand complex situations.

After the first break, which followed the case explanation and the prosecution's introduction, Annabella Schaffner immediately declared the defendant "guilty." Several in the class agreed.

The room had opinions. Some students thought Luke might have run once he was out of his teacher's sight. Others weren't convinced the witnesses had identified him. They had five minutes to deliberate.

"Beyond a reasonable doubt," Geier reminded them.

With each break period, the students changed their minds. It became clear to them there was no way to be certain the student running was Johnson.

In their final deliberation, students questioned whether the witnesses were describing the same jersey. When Geier asked whether the trial had presented any camera footage, they answered, "No." Their verdict was much louder: "Not guilty!" repeated around the room.

Verdict

The class submitted its verdict: not guilty. While verdicts across the country were being gathered, the students began chanting, "NOT GUILTY, NOT GUILTY." When the judge announced the result of the nationwide vote, Luke was found not guilty there, too.

The entire class erupted in applause and excitement because their verdict matched the other participating schools.

If only things were this exciting in actual courts, people might not be so horrified to see a jury duty letter in the mail.

Keaton Becker said he knew the student was not guilty, "When a witness said he had seen a student running but had not seen his face, you still have to find out who it is." Johnson's shirt was the most important evidence to him.

Gwenneth Williams said, "Classmates can own the same clothes" and pointed out that she and Keaton have the same black shirt.

"So then, if you have the same shirt as someone else, it could be the other person," said Williams.

"Other than the hair color, they basically had no other evidence," said Becker.

"It was kind of like emergency, not really, but it was emergency, and he ran in the hall, so he was not guilty," said Williams.

Williams said, “There are a lot of people in the courtroom," before noting the judge's duty is to be fair.

Becker said jurors have to listen to all the evidence so "that if there are people with the same shirt, you could actually have the wrong person."

Geier hopes the lesson stays with them well beyond third grade. The trial gave her class a way to talk about how hard it can be to know what happened when accounts differ, and why decisions need evidence.

"It can be difficult for a teacher when you have two kids coming to you and saying, 'Oh, they did this,' or 'No, I didn't,' and trying to understand that when we didn't see it."

Herrman Elementary's third graders joined the nationwide mock trial after Kansas District Court Judge Robert J. Wonnell invited the school to take part. Geier said Wonnell remembered Sparta from a visit for a race, and the third-grade teachers agreed as soon as Mr. Allen brought them the invitation. Wonnell and Olathe Public Schools organized the live, nationwide event for Constitution Day. It gave the children a chance to serve as a jury, weigh witness testimony and decide a verdict while learning how the courts work.

Geier hopes the students will remember more than the verdict. Someday, they may be called to sit on a real jury, and this experience gave them a small taste of that responsibility: listen to everyone, ask what the evidence proves, and make up your mind together.