An Innocent Man Wrongly Accused as Guilty (Editorial) Written By: JiWhan Moon, Defense Lawyer in the 8D Mock Trial

The 8D Mock Trial between the prosecution and the defense, about whether two seniors Arthur Bauer and Erik Fisher were guilty of killing Luis Cruz, was held on February 13, 2013. Jr. Bauer, a senior at Lake Windsor High School has been tried for causing the death of Luis Cruz. According to Paul Fisher, the brother of Erik Fishers journal stated that Luis Cruz died due to aneurysm, a blood clot in the brain. In the end, the verdict of the trial stated that Arthur Bauer was guilty of second degree murder. However, Mr. Arthur Bauer was wrongly accused of rupturing Cruzs aneurysm by hitting him with a blackjack. There is no doubt that Bauer was innocent because first, he acted upon self-defense, and second owning a blackjack was completely justified according to the Law of Florida. Jr. Bauer, who was a very close friend of Erik Fisher, acted upon self-defense because he was intimidated by Antoine Thomas, Brian Baylor, and the others in his football team. On November 21, Erik Fisher and Arthur Bauer saw a truck pull over the parking lot near their football practice field. The person in the truck, Luis Cruz confronted them with an intimidating tone. He then threatened Arthur Bauer to smack him across the face. Obviously, Arthur and Erik were both intimidated. Therefore, Arthur put his hands inside his gym bag and groped for the blackjack that his father, Sr. Bauer has given him. However, it was evident that Jr. Bauer wasnt intending to kill Luis, as he took out a blackjack, not some other deadly weapon such as his cleats or his football helmet made out of heavy metal. Therefore, the verdict should have called Arthur Bauer as an innocent man.

In addition, Arthur Bauer was entirely just in using a blackjack. The Florida Statute 790.25 states that a person who is eighteen years old is legal to carry a weapon if it is used for self-defense within a private conveyance, which applied for Arthur Bauer because he used the blackjack within the private grounds of Lake Windsor School. In the trial, Sergeant Rojas has stated: The police was misguided to arrest him, as we figured that there were numerous flaws in our previous investigation of the incident. The law states that it is perfectly legal for an eighteen year old man to carry a blackjack. Since he and his father did not violate the law of Florida State, the verdict should have called Arthur Bauer innocent, not guilty. In the trial, the prosecution has argued that the blackjack was definitely the cause of Luis Cruzs death. However, Doctor Suh has proved that the chances of a blow to the head rupturing an aneurysm is very low. Luis was found dead on Monday, November 28, right out in the new grove. Wayne D. has also testified in the mock trial that there were frozen tree branches next to Luiss dead body, and most likely it ruptured the aneurysm that Luis already had while working on fighting the freeze on Thanksgiving. In the 2013 8D Mock Trial, the burden of proof beyond and to the exclusion of every single reasonable doubt of the prosecution was to prove why Arthur Bauer was the sole cause of Luis Cruzs death. This was disproved by Doctor Suh and Wayne Dilkes, as there could have been other factors such as the fall of the tree branches on Luiss head. The prosecution also had to prove why Arthur Bauer did not act on self defense, which Arthur Bauer himself proved that it was because he was intimidated by the football team. For these reasons, the verdict that Arthur Bauer was guilty of second degree murder from the mock trial held on February 13 was inaccurate.