Wicked Witch of the West found not guilty

[Hum]

Ding, dong, the witch is not guilty. Because because because because becaaaaause? she's insane.

That was the verdict reached by a jury of students after a mock trial using the plot of "Oz the Great and Powerful" as the basis of an attempted murder trial at St. Anthony Catholic School in Fort Lauderdale.

The defendant, victims, witnesses, prosecutors and defense lawyers were all members of Mark Haynes' seventh grade literature class, which took a month and a half to prepare for Thursday's trial. Jurors and spectators were pulled from the school's other classes ? pre-K through eighth-grade.

Tim Donnelly, a prosecutor with the Broward State Attorney's Office who lent his real-world expertise to the exercise, served as the judge.

James Camp, 13, one of the defense lawyers representing Theodora, better known as the green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West, said the experience reinforced his long-term desire to become an attorney. "I love debating," he said. "It's a lot of fun and I think I'm pretty good at it."

Theodora, played by classmate Katie Lescano, was portrayed by the defense as a spurned lover unable to tell that what she was doing was wrong because she suffered from numerous mental illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder, "rejectionitis" and "aquaitis," a condition marked by a pathological aversion to water.

The defendant was charged with attempting to kill Glinda, the good witch (portrayed by Bella Lemay) and Oscar Diggs, a Kansas charlatan who gained fame in the Emerald City as the Wizard of Oz (portrayed by Max Zinn).

As in real life, the defense called a parade of doctors to make its case. The character names, Tim Mann, Skar E. Crowe and Cal Ward Leigh-Lyon, might sound familiar to anyone who's seen the 1939 Judy Garland adaptation of "The Wizard of Oz."

Prosecutors called one psychiatric expert, a Dr. Dorothy Gale, whose shoes, in case anyone was wondering, were black.

The jury took less than 10 minutes to deliberate. After the verdict, Donnelly committed the Wicked Witch to one year in an educational facility, where she will learn eighth-grade English, math, science and other subjects. Her sentence begins in August.

Haynes, who is also a drama director at St. Anthony's, said the mock trial was designed to show students how to incorporate real-world rules and experiences into their own interpretations of dramatic material.

"I'm not necessarily trying to cultivate lawyers or actors," he said. "I'm trying to cultivate thinkers and artists."

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