It was literally a jury of their peers.
On Thursday, students in Burrell’s Investigative Sciences and Literature course set up a mock trial in the high school board room that they called Pennsylvania v. Adam Seed; based on the real-life murder trial of Maryland v. Adnan Syed.
A team of prosecutors — students Kassidy Ferguson, Julianna Maletto and Noah Mayes — argued for about an hour Thursday morning claiming that Seed was guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend, Hailey Mint.
Defense attorneys — students Jordyn Betts, Michaela Tenney and Colten Immekus — tried to convince the jury of 12 Burrell seniors — that the prosecution had not met its burden of proof to convict Seed of first-degree murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment and burglary.
The jury was scheduled to announce its verdict Friday.
For students in the Investigative Sciences and Literature class, which debuted at Burrell this school year, the mock trial was the culmination of a year’s worth of work.
The course goes through all steps of the criminal justice system, from crime scene to courtroom, said teacher Amanda Pagnotta.
“It was really interesting to learn about the criminal justice system,” Tenney said.
Proceedings of the actual Adnan Syed trial are much more complicated.
“There’s so many conspiracies out there of what actually happened with it,” Mayes said.
In 2000, Syed was handed a sentence of life plus 30 years in prison for the murder of Hae Min Lee, his ex-girlfriend and a high school senior at the time.
Syed has maintained his innocence.
The case became well known in 2014 when it was featured on the “Serial” podcast.
In 2022, Syed’s conviction was vacated, but a Maryland appellate court reinstated it months later.
On March 6, a Maryland judge granted Syed a sentence reduction to time served — keeping the conviction on his record, but allowing him to remain free.
The criminal justice system takes a longer amount of time than what is often portrayed, Mayes said.
Over the past weeks, students prepared for the mock trial by crafting opening and closing statements, sifting through evidence and preparing questions to examine witnesses.
Pagnotta said she and co-teacher Bryan Mike try to make the course as authentic as possible. She said she hopes students learned to think critically about legal cases.
“They find the truth of the matter, and that’s what I hope they get out of it,” she said.
The mock trial has been the buzz of Burrell High School over the past couple of days, Pagnotta said, and has generated more interest for students wanting to take the Investigative Sciences and Literature course.
“It’s their work that gets other students interested,” she said.
All of that is helpful for Mayes, who wants to be a military JAG (Judge Advocate General) officer. JAG officers serve as the legal arm of a specific branch of the U.S. military, providing legal advice and services to military personnel.
“I have much more knowledge,” he said. “It’s embedded in me.”
