POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. – Mason County Magistrate Cheryl Ross is hosting eighth grade students from two schools at the Mason County Courthouse this week in honor of Law Day. Founded in 1958 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Law Day celebrates the American Legal System. This is Mason County’s fifth annual Law Day celebration.

Students are participating in a mock trial according to the following schedule:

– 8:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., Wednesday, May 6, eighth-grade students from Wahama High School.

– 8:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., Thursday, May 7, eighth Point Pleasant Junior/Senior High School.

Students from each school conduct a trial and act as lawyers, defendant, judge, jurors, clerks, media, bailiff, witnesses and spectators. No one will be left out.

The mock trial scenario was written by Magistrate Ross, who has conducted a middle school mock trial program in Mason County for several years. Her program was one of the inspirations for the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia’s new West Virginia Law Adventure program, in which middle school students write their own mock trial scripts. The Supreme Court program is in the second year of a three-year pilot project.

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