Judicial Role-Play

I have a game that I think may be fun if enough people would like to participate.

First off, here are the characters:

The Judge-PavlovianModel146

Michael Wilcoff: Mr. Wilcoff is the lead suspect who is on trial for the murder of Angelina Hernandez.

Demetrius Hernandez: Mr. Hernandez is Mrs. Hernandez’s widowed husband, and was originally suspected of her murder. The police decided not to arrest Mr. Hernandez for the crime because the way that the murder was committed did not seem to fit the pattern.

Prosecuting Attorney

Defense Attorney

Brent Robinson: Bartender at The Neptune

Alexandra Wilcoff: Alexandra is Mr. Wilcoff’s wife who may or may not have been aware (prior to Mrs. Hernandez’s murder) of the affair.

Micahel Wilcoff Jr.: Mr. Wilcoff’s son and youngest child who also gives an alibi for Mr. Wilcoff’s whereabouts.

Brenda Wilcoff (22): Mr. Wilcoff’s daughter and eldest child who was not home on the night of the murder. The police briefly considered her as a potential suspect, but she has a lock-tight alibi for the night of the murder. She may or may not have been aware of the affair.

Matthew Samuelsson: Mr. Wilcoff’s boss and owner of Out of Debt Consumer Solutions.

Alejandro (Alex) Hernandez: Demetrius’ brother and only alibi.

Responding Officer (Who found the knife and was the first cop to see the victim)

Chief of Police (Who questioned all parties involved)

Jurors

THE FACTS:

On the night of Friday, December 12, 2008 between 10:00-11:30p.m. (Based on the coroner’s report) Angelina Hernandez was murdered by way of stabbing. She was stabbed in the neck eleven times with thrust like stabs while lying in bed face-up. The first stab was the one that killed her, but the killer may or may not have known that. It appears that Mrs. Hernandez was attacked while sleeping because there is no sign of a struggle.

There is no sign of forced entry into the Hernandez apartment, in fact, Mr. Hernandez claims the door was locked when he got home. Their apartment is on the sixteenth floor and the window to the fire escape was also locked. Michael Wilcoff admits to having the key to the apartment, but claims that he cannot find it.

Michael Wilcoff is the Customer Service Manager for Out of Debt Consumer Solutions, an in-bound call center that operates from 9a.m.-9p.m. Monday-Friday. Mr Wilcoff typically works a half hour over every night to do filing and employee reviews on calls he has listened to. Matthew Samuelsson, the owner of the company, is his boss and claims that Mr. Wilcoff left work at 9:30p.m. (almost on the dot) that evening.

The ride home from work generally takes Mr. Wilcoff 30-35 minutes and he called his wife and told her he was leaving. According to Mrs. Wilcoff, he called her at 9:45p.m. and arrived home at around 10:30p.m… Michael Wilcoff Jr. also puts his Father home at 10:30p.m., but has no idea when the call took place or even that such a call occurred.

Michael Wilcoff originally told police that he left work at 9:30p.m. and called his wife at 9:30p.m. from his cell phone. He later changed his story when his wife said that he called at 9:45p.m… The reason, Mr. Wilcoff said, that he lied about the time of the call was because Mrs. Wilcoff was concerned about his drinking and was under the impression that he had stopped drinking completely. Mr. Wilcoff said he went to The Neptune Bar after work, drank a shot of whiskey and a draft beer and then called and told his wife he would be on his way home. He ID’ed the bartender, Brent Robinson, by first name and general physical description.

Brent Robinson told police that the evening in question was a very busy evening and he did not remember seeing Mr. Wilcoff. He did admit, however, that he generally saw Mr. Wilcoff 2-3 nights a week, but said he would probably not remember had he seen Mr. Wilcoff that night in a crowded bar, especially if he only made one order.

Brent did say that it was funny how Mr. Wilcoff would name him as being there if Mr. Wilcoff had not went to the bar because Brent is always off on Fridays and only came in due to an employee calling off.

Alexandra Wilcoff, Mr. Wilcoff’s daughter, claims to have had knowledge of the affair with Mrs. Hernandez, but refuses to state where she got that knowledge as Mrs. Wilcoff claims to have been blissfully unaware of the affair until the murder occurred.

Demetrius Hernandez does not state that he absolutely KNEW his wife was having an affair but inferred such. He states that he viewed Mr. Wilcoff and his wife(around a moth prior to the murder) at a corner cafe through a window as he happened to be walking that way to get to the pharmacy. He observed that they were sitting really close together, but did not observe them make physical contact. He watched them converse for 2-3 minutes but left the scene because he saw them both stand up and was afraid he might be spotted.

Demetrius Hernandez was originally supposed to work that day, but decided to call off. His wife was aware that he was supposed to work so he assumed that she would be bringing the gentleman home with her that night. Using the back service entrance to the parking garage he entered and exited his apartment almost every hour, but never saw any sign of hiswife or the gentleman. He was supposed to get off from work at 8:00 and get home at 8:30, so at 8:30 he went into the apartment and sat down. Mrs. Hernandez returned an hour later with a car full of groceries and stated that she was out shopping prior to him getting home.

Mr. Hernandez thought about bringing up seeing her with the gentleman earlier in the day, but decided against it. His wife, he knew, was a pretty good liar so regardless of what she told him he did not believe he would be able to determine if there was any truth to it or not. He planned to save up some money and hire a private investigation firm to follow her around for a week to see what happens, she was killed before he had the chance.

Mr. Hernandez’s only alibi, which is pretty loose, is his brother Alex, who stated that he and his brother had been drinking together at his (Alex’) apartment from around 6:00p.m. to 1:30a.m. on the night of the murder. Alex’s cell phone records and home phone records were checked and he did not either make or receive a call during this time, nor did Demetrius Hernandez.

Mr. Hernandez made the call to 911 at 1:43a.m. when his brother’s apartment is about a ten minute walk from his house. Mr Hernandez told the dispatcher he believed his wife to have been stabbed in the neck and chest. She was actually only stabbed in the neck, but the way the blood flowed onto her shirt it is reasonable for Mr. Hernandez to believe she may have been stabbed also in the chest.

Mr. Wilcoff admits to having received an e-mail from Mrs. Hernandez claiming that she wished to get away from her husband. Mrs. Hernandez gives an ultimatum, he can either be ready to leave with her for Florida (they live in Illinois) in one month, or he can give her $10,000 in cash for her silence and choose not to come with her. If Mr. Wilcoff does neither, Mrs. Hernandez states that she will reveal all to his wife.

There was a Bowie knife found beside a nearby dumpster with Mrs. Hernandez’s blood on it. However, there were no prints or other forms of DNA on the knife.

THE RULES:

1.) Anyone who wishes to participate can play 1-3 different roles and be a juror (which counts as one of the roles) The only exceptions are the two attroneys who can only play the one role of either prosecuting or defense attorney.

2.) Each attorney may bring forward an additional three witnesses and work them into the story however they deem appropriate. The only rule regarding this is that each attorney must PM to me the witness they wish to bring and give a description of what the witness knows. Any witness that gives information as an eyewitness or gives any other absolutely incriminating information on any party will not be permitted.

3.) The people playing the witnesses may take poetic license for their roles, but may not say anything that absolutely incriminates anyone.

4.) It is the goal of the Defense to prove Mr. Wilcoff’s innocence. This can be done either by proving reasonable doubt, or attempting to prove the guilt of another party.

5.) It is the goal of the Prosecution to prove Mr. Wilcoff’s guilt.

6.) The, “Guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt,” should be what drives the jurors. The jurors will declare Mr. Wilcoff guilty or innocent by way of majority rule and not unanimous decision. There may be anywhere from 3-9 jurors, provided the number of jurors is an odd number. I will also be a juror.

7.) When questioning a witness, each attorney gets five questions per post. Each attorney must allow the witness that is on the stand to answer the questions of the attorney prior before asking their own questions. An attorney may object to a question (which will count as one of the attorney’s questions per objection) post facto, and if that objection is sustained, the question and answer should be taken off the record by way of edit.

8.) Use of the quote function is not permitted at any time regarding questions and responses.

9.) Each attorney may have three total rounds of questioning for each witness.

10.) The roles people play are first-come, first-serve.

I think that’s it, but I reserve the right to add more rules at any time.

[size=85]The characters and events above are entirely fictional and any similarity to real people or events is entirely circumstancial and unintended.[/size]

I’ve just had a bottle of cider - I will read and respond to, this post, when I am stone-cold sobre :smiley:

The bulter did it.