Teacher Matthew Dowd told students lawyers need to argue points with which they may not agree.
SPRINGFIELD – A group of 21 Central High School seniors, most from Matthew Dowd’s law class, were divided into two groups at Law Day event Thursday there.
All were given a fictitious set of facts, in which a man accused of armed robbery is denied a publicly-paid lawyer because his family’s income and assets were above those set by his state.
Half the students had to argue it was unconstitutional for the state to deny representation to the man, whose family income was still very minimal. The other half had to argue the state was legally correct in setting the higher number for qualification for representation.
Leading one side was Westfield District Court Judge Philip A. Contant, and leading the other was Christopher D. Reavey, clerk of Franklin-Hampshire Juvenile Court.
Dowd said he knew some of the students would be on a side not reflective of their own opinion.
“That’s tough luck,” he said, noting lawyers have to be able to argue effectively even if they are not reflecting their own opinions.
“This is a very timely topic,” Contant said. He said there have been a lot of cutbacks in the court and providing lawyers is very expensive.
Reavey said, “There’s usually not much sympathy in the public for spending tax dollars for people they consider criminals.”
As a member of the group arguing against providing representation in the fictional case, Enrique Rosario said giving the man a publicly-paid lawyer doesn’t benefit the people paying taxes, but benefits only the person being charged.
He said taxpayer dollars would better be spent on schools and hospitals.
Nyishyari Marrero said, “What if you know you’re not guilty. You don’t need a lawyer.”
“Why should the taxpayers be paying for criminals,” Ashley Brown said.
Over on the other side of the room, the arguments for giving the man a lawyer were forming.
“The family doesn’t make enough money to afford a lawyer,” said Aimee Castro, noting that just because the family had some money, it didn’t mean they could afford a lawyer without harming the two children.
The two sides presented their arguments to three student judges.
The judges decided in favor of having the man get a publicly-paid lawyer.
“A lot of people get falsely accused,” said student judge Deon Bledsoe.
Reavey told the students so many people convicted and serving sentences have been exonerated by DNA testing advances.
“One wonders about people who don’t have DNA evidence,” he said.