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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

CRJ 207 Students Go to Court


MCC students went to trial recently at the state Appellate Division courtroom and learned that it’s not easy to apply the rules of criminal evidence that they learned in class.

Students in CRJ 207 criminal evidence course at the Damon City Campus spent the semester learning about evidence gathered and presented during criminal trials and got a chance to act as prosecutors, defense attorneys and witnesses in the mock trial of People vs. Robin Hood. Hood was charged with second-degree murder, second-degree assault and criminal possession of a controlled substance after being stopped for a routine traffic violation. In this fictional account, students encountered evidentiary problems that had to be solved in order for both the prosecution and the defense to present witnesses, photographs and medical records in a manner that made them admissible in court.

The Honorable Nancy Smith, Associate Justice for the New York State Appellate Division, Fourth Department, who co-teaches CRJ 207 with David Pogue, professor in MCC’s Law and Criminal Justice Program, invited the students to the courtroom where she works full-time.  The M. Dolores Denman Courthouse, located at 50 East Avenue, is just around the corner from the Damon City Campus.

“The trial,” said Judge Smith, “gave students an opportunity to put into practice the concepts they learned in class”.

Students in CRJ 207 study the rules of evidence in criminal matters, especially fourth, fifth and sixth amendment protections, as they apply to searches,  self-incrimination, and right to counsel issues, with an emphasis on New York state law.


George Jones plays a prosecutor trying to get a photo of a gun admitted into evidence. Here he shows it to the defense team, Tyler Pakis (far left in the white shirt) and Omar Tawakali (in the red shirt).


Cross-examining the witness, played by Thomas Schramm, is Alexander Bovenzi; watching in the foreground is Roelle Gagnier, serving as a lawyer on the defense team.


David Pogue
Law & Criminal Justice
12/19/2006