BURBANK : Students Get Legal Lesson in ‘Wizard’ Trial

A Kansas girl was acquitted of murdering a wicked witch Thursday afternoon when a five-member jury rejected the prosecution argument that it was a cold-blooded act committed by a scheming adolescent hiding behind pigtails.

A guilty verdict at the Providencia School trial in Burbank would have meant a 25-year-to-life sentence for Dorothy Gale, portrayed as sweet and warmhearted by her supporters. Prosecutors had described her as a manipulator just trying to get what she wanted.

“I was scared they were going to find me guilty,” Dorothy said after a one-hour trial packed with drama and grisly details, including admission into evidence of a jar with a red fluid that a forensic expert said were the melted remains of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Dorothy, played by fourth-grader Molly Lynch, hugged her lead defense lawyer when the acquittal was read.

The idea, teacher Donna Schmidt said, was to help students understand how the judicial system works. Current cases, like the Menendez brothers trial and the Reginald Denny beating case, presented conflicting issues that confused the children, she said.

In the story of the “Wizard of Oz,” for example, the witch dies, but there are questions about Dorothy’s motive, and about whether she acted in self-defense.

“Dorothy didn’t know water was bad for the witch,” said juror Melina Bettis, one of five girls who decided unanimously to acquit Dorothy.

The prosecuting team of Christian Quiroga and Edgar Coronel laid out their case for the jury that Dorothy had been sent by the Wizard of Oz to kill the witch as the only way he would help her get back to Kansas. Defense lawyers Marilyn Rodriguez and Cesar Toledo countered with Dorothy’s testimony that she had gone to see the witch to bring peace between her and the Wizard.

“Don’t blame Dorothy for this terrible mishap,” Marilyn asked the jury, in explaining the circumstances of the fight involving a pair of slippers, which had only one witness. “Let’s just send her home where she belongs and end this nightmare.”

In cross-examining Dorothy’s friends, the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, Christian attempted to undermine Dorothy’s case.

“Didn’t you mean that thanks to Dorothy killing the witch, you got your brains?” Christian asked the Scarecrow as he cast a shadow of doubt on the group’s motives.

Popular sentiment may have been a factor in the trial’s outcome. During the deliberations, the crowd of students watching the production voted overwhelmingly in favor of the girl, and only a scattering of students believed that she was guilty.

“If we had boys on the jury, I wonder if there would have been a different outcome?” Schmidt said. “As little girls, they empathize with a little girl lost.”