Leadership class judges courtroom drama

Mock trial concludes nine-month program By JAMES CHILTON/The Daily News

BULLHEAD CITY — A Bullhead City Municipal Court jury found Ron Hokenstad guilty of assaulting Mayor Jack Hakim.

At least, they would have, had the trial been real and not just an educational experience.

Thursday’s mock trial was the final outing for this year’s class of the Colorado Leadership Program, which is sponsored by the Colorado River Women’s Council to help promising adults develop their community leadership skills through exposure to various aspects of the community itself, including the municipal government, health services, the school system and, in this final class, the criminal justice system.

Participants spent all day at the Bullhead City court complex on Marina Boulevard, first receiving a briefing on the judicial process, then getting their chance to sit in on a trial and determine guilt or innocence. The mock trial, which was presided over by Associate Magistrate Peter Psareas, pitted victim Jack “Nicklson,” as portrayed by Hakim, against defendant Ron “Billabong,” played by Hokenstad, a volunteer victims advocate. County Attorney Matt Smith served as prosecutor and Bullhead City Public Defender Anthony Mullan  was the attorney for the defense.

The trial concerned Nicklson’s allegation that Billabong had assaulted him by striking him with a cane during a party at Rotary Park last Memorial Day weekend. During the trial, Smith attempted to cast Billabong’s assault as an unprovoked attack by an unbalanced soul, while Mullan tried to cast Billabong as a disabled veteran who was only defending himself against Nicklson’s perceived aggression.

Throughout the trial, both the judge and the attorneys would occasionally break character to explain some aspect of court procedure, like when one juror exclaimed “Good grief!” as Mullan attempted to get “Nicklson’s” wife, played by Hakim’s real-life wife Charlotte, to admit to her husband’s hair-trigger temper.

“Let me ask you both, if either of you were asking questions and you heard something like that from the jury, what would be your next move?” Psareas asked. “Mr. Mullan?”

“Motion for a mistrial,” Mullan replied.

“Depends on which side of the jury you’re on,” Smith joked, drawing laughter from the jury box.

Psareas went on to say that, in a real trial, while the exclamation was ambiguous enough that he probably wouldn’t grant a mistrial on that basis alone, he would warn the jury not to do it again, and might even kick the offending juror out of the courtroom, depending on the extenuating circumstances.

After about nearly three hours, the jury retired to deliberate, returning about 20 minutes later with a split vote: nine guilty, one not guilty and one undecided. Psareas noted that, in a misdemeanor case such as this, a jury normally wouldn’t decide the outcome, but had this been an actual criminal trial, that would have been sufficient to convict, provided that the right eight people wound up on the jury. According to Arizona Revised Statutes, a 12-person jury is only required for crimes where the death penalty may be administered, or where the maximum sentence exceeds 30 years — yet another fact the leadership class learned from their experience.

Jeremy Brunk, the sole undecided juror, said he felt there hadn’t been enough evidence to conclusively convict Hokenstad’s character, adding that he would have liked to have seen more witnesses to the supposed assault. Aside from that, he said, the experience was about as authentic as a trial-by-jury could be, adding that he himself had served on juries twice before.

“It was as close to real as I think they could’ve made it,” he said.

“It’s like you’re in a movie,” said Claudia Oliphant, another class participant. “I thought it would be like this, but I learned a lot. I really enjoyed it.”

Donna Roach, who does business management for the Colorado River Union High School District, was another participant in this year’s program, joining after a colleague recommended it to her.

“They recommended it to me as a way to step out and become more involved in the community in an active leadership role,” Roach said. “It was really eye-opening to me.”

While she thoroughly enjoyed the mock trial experience, Roach said she never wanted to be on a real life jury, given her frustration over how easy it was for some jurors to allow emotion and prejudices to override what she saw as a more objective approach to the law.

“You have to block all the emotion out and ask, ‘did this meet the definition of assault and was it in self-defense?’ ” she said. “For me it was easy, but it’s frustrating when you have a hung jury, when 11 people are in favor (of guilt) and one isn’t.”

Colorado Leadership Program director Bonnie Tarloff said the mock trial is just the icing on the cake for the class’ nine-month program, which includes guest speakers, panel discussions, field trips, and plenty of opportunities for participants to hone their leadership skills and make important connections with the people who make the community function.

The Colorado River Women’s Council is looking for applicants for the 2011-2012 leadership class, which is open to both men and women age 18 and above. For more information, call Tarloff at 928-754-5440 or send an e-mail to bonnietar@gmail.com .