A close call for an accused Santa
Posted on 12/14/2002 2:54:47 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
A close call for an accused Santa
'If you want good gifts, you must acquit'
12/14/2002
FORT WORTH - In a standing-room-only courtroom filled with chants of "Free Santa" and "If you want good gifts, you must acquit," a jury Friday found St. Nick not guilty - by a whisker.
The charge: speeding in a school zone.
The overwhelming reason for acquittal: Testimony revealed that an impostor - Santa Pause - stole the jolly old man's sleigh from in front of an East Fort Worth residence.
But the verdict didn't come gift-wrapped. The jurors - Fort Worth fifth-graders - hesitated several minutes before loudly declaring Santa Claus "not guilty."
"Ooh, that was a close one," said Fort Worth lawyer Bobbie Edmonds, founder and organizer of the annual mock Santa trial.
 Qua'Nedreia Foster, 10, was the courtroom bailiff on Friday during Santa's trial on a charge of speeding in a school zone. (ALLISON V. SMITH / DMN) |
"Santa Claus almost went to jail this year. That jury was kind of reluctant. That's why we had the judge poll them."
This was the seventh year Ms. Edmonds has hosted the trial, which draws more than 150 youngsters from several Fort Worth schools.
In Friday's case, Santa had been charged with burglary as well as speeding - he was accused of going 65 mph in the school zone - but prosecutors dismissed the more serious burglary charge before the trial began.
The youngsters, with the help of real lawyers and a state district judge, took on the roles of witnesses, police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judge and jury.
Ms. Edmonds said the trial gave young people a fun way to look at, and participate in, the legal process.
"It's very fulfilling, plus it's educational," said Ms. Edmonds, who spends about $1,000 of her own money to sponsor the proceedings.
During Friday's sometimes-rowdy trial, presided over by a rare three-judge panel, Santa Claus' freedom hinged on the testimony of two key witnesses - Peek-a-boo and Santa Pause.
Peek-a-boo, played by 10-year-old Hyrmonie Hayward-Downs, tearfully testified that she saw a St. Nick look-alike hop into the big man's sleigh and drive off while the real Santa visited one of her neighbors.
"Santa did not break the law," Hyrmonie said. "He did not speed in the sleigh. He did not do anything wrong."
Moments later, Santa Pause, sporting a red suit and a white beard exactly like the real McCoy, stunned the courtroom: He admitted he took the sleigh.
But he said he did it to help Santa make his deliveries. Mr. Pause - whose real name is Bill Kooch - denied speeding.
"I must confess, I just wanted to help," he testified. "I did not mean any harm. I wanted this to be a good Christmas. I wanted Santa Claus to get all the toys and gift lists to the North Pole on time."
After the jury's verdict, Ticket Whopper, the officer who initially arrested Santa and so named because of her affinity for the hamburger, apologized for misidentifying St. Nick.
"I guess I learned that you should always keep your glasses on," said the bespectacled Ticket Whopper, played by 11-year-old Taniqua Bright, a fifth-grader at A.M. Pate Elementary.
Although the jury and audience unanimously approved of the verdict, at least one of the fifth-grade judges didn't.
"I thought he was guilty," said Gregory Ball, 10, a student at L. Clifford Davis Elementary. "He should have gone to jail."
And what would Gregory have done about Christmas if Santa had gone to the slammer?
"Let the parents buy the gifts," he said.
E-mail scrawford@dallasnews.com
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