Mock Trial Prep

first bit

It’s October 31st, 2022. Halloween night. The annual Children’s Hospital Charity Gala is being hosted on the top floor of Miller Tower. As head of security for the event, Emory Sands watches over the silent auction. Everything is going smoothly.

second bit

But then, an unexpected helicopter lands on the roof. Ms. Sands radios the guards to ask what’s happening, but no one answers. She goes to investigate, but when she opens her office door three people wearing masks surround her. 

third bit

Ms. Sands tries to run for help, but they attack her. One of them punches her in the face, they drag her toward Miller Tower’s secured vault, kicking her ribs, fracturing her skull—she can’t defend herself. Then one of her attackers slams her head into the cement floor.

fourth bit

Emory Sands wakes up in the hospital two weeks later. There’s a tube in her throat. She can’t speak, can’t feed herself, can’t even hold her one-year old son. It’s six months before she goes home to her family. 

fifth bit

Members of the jury, that’s why we’re here today. Because you’ll learn that one of the people hiding behind those masks, the person who beat Emory Sands to the brink of death, was the Defendant, Sarah Rosen.

sixth bit

You’ll learn the Defendant conspired with two other known criminals to break into Miller Tower, to use Ms. Sands’ handprint to open the biometric vault, and to rob the charity gala that night. And while the Defendant may have hidden behind a mask on October 31st and gotten away with the auction items that night, here, in a court of law, the Defendant can’t hide behind a mask.”

Q: Please introduce yourself to the court.

G.E. Cohen. The G.E. stands for Garrison Ezekiel. My parents had very strong opinions about names. I don't really think that's relevant to these proceedings.

Q: What do you do for a living?

I work in the family business. End-of-life event planning. Funerals. We run a funeral home.I actually studied documentary filmmaking in college. I was going to make socially significant films, possibly win a Sundance award. That has... not yet happened. The job market had other ideas, so I started working with my family. I thought I'd hate it, but I actually really like it. You get to help people through some of the worst days of their lives. It's meaningful.

Why are you here today?

Because I witnessed a car accident on June 20, 2021.

I received a letter telling me I had to come testify about it. Which, admittedly, is not how I imagined making my courtroom debut.

But yes. I saw the accident.

Q: What were you doing that day?

I was coming from dinner, not a funeral, just to clarify. I'd gone to dinner at Le Poisson Bleu with Ally Mediratta. Lovely restaurant. Slightly aggressive portion sizes. My car was in the shop, so I took a cab home. When I got back, I discovered that my landlord, Rhys Williams, had attached a note to the trash I had left in the hallway. Apparently, paying rent does not include hallway-to-dumpster trash transportation. The note said that if I didn't take it all the way to the dumpster, he was going to raise my rent. So, under considerable financial duress, I put my shoes back on and took out the trash.

Q: Did you have a clear view of the alley?

Clear” would be... generous.

It had started raining unbelievably hard. There aren't streetlights back there, it was cloudy, there was fog—it was extremely dark. And then there was the dumpster itself, which I was approaching with some hesitation because I have never once seen my landlord disinfect that lid.

And I’m sorry, but if I’m expected to put my hand on a dumpster lid that has clearly been touched by every raccoon, delivery person, and emotionally unstable tenant in the neighborhood, I need at least a little warning.

So I could see the alley, yes. But visibility was bad. I could see enough to know I was making a terrible decision, but not enough to identify a person.

Q: What did you see?

Headlights.

[Change demeanor slightly. Look down the imaginary alley.]

They came toward me really fast. I jumped out of the way, and a white Kia Soul went roaring past me.

Imagine Dragons was blasting from inside.

[small beat]

Which felt... weirdly cinematic.

And I saw the license plate: NED4SPD. "Need for speed." N-E-D-4-S-P-D.

I remember thinking, That's an unfortunately appropriate license plate.

I tried to see the driver, but I couldn't. The windows were tinted, and with the rain and darkness, there was basically no light getting through them. So I want to be very clear: I did not see who was driving.

Q: What happened next?

A: The Kia kept going toward the intersection.

There's a yield sign where De Las Salas Road meets Demsky Lane. It's important because cars on Demsky don't stop. I've seen accidents there before.

The Kia reached the yield sign and—

[pause; comedy drops]

—it went through.

It might have slowed down a little. I honestly can't say for sure. Everything happened incredibly fast.

At the same time, the taxi that had just dropped me off was coming through the intersection.

And then they collided.

[Short silence.]

It was horrible. One second, I'm irritated because I'm taking out my trash in the rain. The next, I'm watching two cars crash right in front of me.

Q: What did you do?

I called 911 immediately.

I didn't go over to the cars because... I faint at the sight of blood.

[slightly embarrassed]

Which, yes, is inconvenient considering my family's line of work. We don't need to unpack that today.

But I knew that me unconscious next to an already-existing emergency was probably not going to improve the situation.

So I stayed where I was, pulled out my phone, and told the dispatcher that a car had gone through the yield sign and hit a taxi.

And before I'd even finished the call, Officer Wallace arrived.

[small pause]

Fastest police response I've ever seen.

I suppose that part of the evening was lucky.