SANTA ANA : Courthouse Class Tours Plead to Stay

When 60 junior high school students from Yorba Linda went on a tour of Orange County Superior Court on Thursday, they didn’t expect to find themselves in a murder trial hearing details of the slaying.

But surprises like that, in which the eighth-graders heard Cinnamon Brown describe how she shot her stepmother, are part of the purpose of the Santa Ana courthouse tours, led by the Orange County Law Auxiliary.

But such firsthand courtroom experiences for students may end soon because the tour program, which serves an average of 2,000 youths each year, is in danger of folding.

When the auxiliary, composed of the spouses of judges and lawyers, began the program 30 years ago, many of the wives worked as volunteer guides. Today, however, most members have entered the work force.

“These days, it’s difficult to get people to volunteer for anything,” said member Donna Salterelli. “All volunteer groups are facing the same problem. There is the same amount of things that need to be done with less people available.”

In an effort to keep the program afloat, the group will allow non-members to train as tour guides beginning next fall. The program runs from October through May, and tour guides must undergo extensive training to learn about the criminal and civil justice systems.

“This is the only way to get a comprehensive tour of the courthouse,” Salterelli said. “And I think it’s so important that students get this opportunity.”

Ruth Beutel, a teacher at Bernardo Yorba Junior High who has been bringing her students to the courthouse since the tours began, said the experience serves “as the culmination of their studies for the year. I think it’s a marvelous way to introduce them to our court system. They learn about civil rights and get to see trials in action.”

Beutel’s class and the other eighth-graders from her school said the tour provided some surprises.

“It’s nothing like ‘Night Court’ at all,” said 14-year-old Jeremy Hatfield. “In this court, it was real serious and there was no joking around.”

Mellissa Zurn, 13, said she felt a little sorry for Cinnamon Brown during her testimony.

“The lawyer was mean and kept pressuring her,” Zurn said outside the courtroom. “If I was up there, I would have started crying.”

Tour guide Kathy Rawls said the students were lucky to be able to sit in on the Brown trial.

“It’s rare that they are able to view that kind of trial with the media all around,” Rawls said. “We told them that it was important for them to remember that they were in the courtroom as observers and that the court was not here to entertain them. This group was extremely quiet. I think they all realized that this wasn’t ‘L.A. Law,’ it was reality.”

Rawls said it would be devastating if future eighth-graders don’t get the chance to experience what those from Bernardo Yorba Junior High School did.

“We feel so strongly about this program and its value and we don’t want to let it go,” Rawls said.