Whitney Gulden
Reporter
On Tuesday, May 25, eleven members of the Police Club went to the Stamford Courthouse to go behind the scenes of the judicial system.
There, club members were given a tour by the courthouse Elite Marshall Sapienza and lawyer Mark Durkin, where the students saw holding cells where criminals are brought before trial, the public story law library, and the juvenile clerk’s office.
Between touring, the students exercised their right of access to the judicial system by sitting in on the proceedings of two active cases. The first case was a civil matter of suing after alleged injury in a car accident in 2005; the second was also a civil matter of a Stamford citizen suing the city of Stamford for more endorsement after some of his property had been taken.“[The trip] was a great opportunity to hear real cases,” club President junior Laura Huertas said.
Senior Alexa Kuberra described the experience similar to going to the zoo. Students watched as marshals led half a dozen arrested people into the courtroom in twos, locked in handcuffs. This was the courtroom where over forty family members and friends watched and waited to see what bail would be and when they would have to come back to court to plead the case of those arrested.
In addition, senior Krista Carmel thought the experience was valuable because of the new people she got to meet. “We got to learn a lot and had the opportunity to meet with interesting people,” she said. Some of the students were able to talk one-on-one with one of Connecticut’s top criminal prosecutors, Assistant States Attourney Rich Calangelo, as well as Mr. Durkin, both who have kids in the New Canaan Public School system.
Junior Sarah Williamson was pleasantly surprised by the trip. “It was a lot more interesting and eye opening than I thought it was going to be,” she said.
The trip was spearheaded by resource Officer Ronald Bentley and Officer Matt Marizanno and is the third trip the Police Club (also called the Police Academy) has taken since the club was started several years ago by former resource Officer John Milligan. Last year, club members took a similar trip which included a visit to a prison and a chance to talk to convicted criminals.
