Young arms of the law

Young arms of the law

United States. Constitution. 4th Amendment

Mello, Michael

Vermont Law School

Youth for Justice Summit

Professor Micheal Mello gave a speech regarding the Fourth Amendment for High School students at the Youth for Justice Summit at Vermont Law School.

Mackenize, Melissa

Mackenzie, Melissa. "Young arms of the law." Rutland Daily Herald. December 4, 1999.

HIST 299, University of Mary Washington

1999-12-04

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2 JPGS
300 DPI

English

(Royalton, VT)

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[Header] Region/State
Rutland Daily Herald
Saturday, December 4, 1999
Windsor, Windham & Benn

[Title] Young arms of the law
[Sub-title] Mock ‘arrest’ gives students lesson in Fourth Amendment
By MELISSA MACKENZIE
Herald Correspondent
[Text] SOUTH ROYALTON – Vermont Law School pro-fessor Michael Mello was giving a speech on the Fourth Amendment Friday when an armed police officer paused outside one of the glass doors leading into the room.
The officer, state Trooper Paul Gauthier, stared hard at Mello, who abruptly stopped lecturing, announced his time was up and stuffed his papers into his brief-case. Mello looked distracted, flustered. He swore and hurried in the opposite direction.
Gauthier, meanwhile, opened the door, crossed the meeting hall, apprehended Mello and frisked him. He also searched Mello’s briefcase, in which he found a gun.
Then he took Mello away.
When Mello reappeared a few minutes later “free on bail,” however, it was clear he hadn’t really been arrested. The act was just a demonstration about the Fourth Amendment, which deals with the right of individuals to be free from “unreasonable” searches and seizures, for more than 75 junior high and high school students from around the state who attended the fifth annual Youth for Justice Summit at Vermont Law School.
But the conference, a day-long event that aims to pro-mote the importance of legal education and responsibility
(See Page 13:Law)
[Image- three students listening to Michael Mello’s Speech]
[Image Caption- Photo by Melissa MacKenzie]
[Image Caption- Students listen to Vermont Law School professor Michael Mello speak Friday during the fifth annual Youth for Justice Summit at the school in South Royalton.]
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[Heading-Law]
[Sub-heading- Continued from Page 11]
[Text] among teens, gave students more than lectures about the issue – it gave them a live performance.
After Mello returned, law students argued the pros and cons of whether Mello was guilty. Then, with the help of students, the “case” was taken step by step all the way to the Supreme Court.
Donning impressive black robes trimmed with black velvet, Mello, as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Rhenquist, and five seventh-graders from St. Albans City and Milton, as associate justices, began the trial of “former professor Mello.”
The young justices took on the lawyers toe to toe on whether the police had any right to search Mello. Questions like “why did the officer enter this room in the first place?” and “the professor left in a hurry because of shock! How do you know he was engaged in suspicious active-ity? He was done with his speech. He was leaving! It is a crime to hurry from the room?” and “did the officer have a warrant to search the brief-case?” and the answers given by law students and Mello educated and engaged the entire audience.
Later, as the several “lawyers” spoke, the “justices” had to consider the matter from the point of view of the police officer.
The session, which was based on a case presently before the U.S. Supreme Court, Illinois vs. Wardlow, was the fifth in a series of legal dis-cussions held at the Youth Summit. Other sessions explored the legali-ties of school rules, discipline and expulsion, curfew laws, property rights, and rescue and first aid issues in Vermont.
Founded in Bellows Falls in 1994 by retired Bellows Falls Union High School principal Harry (“Bud”) Weiser, the Youth for Justice Summit pro-gram in Vermont that is recognized by the American Bar Association.
Topics addressed in previous years included prison life, Internet crime, environmental pollution and drug enforcement.
School or Individuals who wish to purchase a videotape of Friday’s events can call Eric Columber of the Vermont Law School Legal Education and Empowerment Project at 763-3021.
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