Court Brings Serious Lesson to High School

As the handcuffs tightened around Laura Marshall’s wrists, the students watching realized this was real and the woman was going to jail.

This was no ordinary school assembly.

Dade County Circuit Judge Ellen Sue Venzer brought her courtroom to Ransom Everglades High School to give teenagers an up-close look at the consequences of drinking and driving. About 600 students watched from the bleachers in the gym as three adults were found guilty and sentenced to jail.

“When I was watching it, it seemed like a television show,” said Lisa Jacobs, 17. “But the jail part made it real, especially when they put the handcuffs on the woman.”

The courtroom drama is part of a Michigan judge’s awareness tour--what he calls a campaign against the influences of alcohol advertising. Judge Michael Martone started the program in Troy, Mich., and has taken it on the road, serving as a consultant.

Crashes are the top killer of young people between 15 and 20 years old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sixty percent are alcohol-related.

Marshall broke down after she was sentenced to 10 days in jail and ordered to get treatment and counseling.

As she was handcuffed, fingerprinted and frisked in front of the students, “their eyes widened . . . and any of the smiles that were on their faces were gone,” Venzer said. “I think you can tell by the looks on their faces that this had an impact.”

Another defendant, Robert Walker, 41, was convicted for the third time and sentenced to 45 days in prison, 90 days of counseling and 90 days of treatment. Like the other defendants, he volunteered for the program.

“I felt humiliated,” he said, sitting handcuffed in the makeshift courtroom. “If I could save one of their lives, that humiliation was worth it.”