Hunter Nilsen Nilsen

1
Ms. Moser
Period 2
25 April 2017
Response To Mock Trial

I was chosen by the state to be a juror in the trial of Dale Reynolds. It was a very stressful

and unique experience. I learned a lot from this experience. The most impactful thing I learned

though is that not everything is as it appears from afar. Dales case seemed like an easy guilty,

100% guilty, definitely guilty kind of case when I read about it in the paper, but in the jurors

room, that all changed.

Dale was arrested for the killing of his step-father on. He claims it was self defense, but

everyone else leans toward 1st degree murder. Before I entered that courtroom I was one of those

people that believed he was guilty, but after hearing the affidavits and after the witnesses were

examined, some things stood out to me that made me believe Dale Reynolds was innocent. The

three most important things I noticed were that the first witness, Jan, who claimed Dale killed in

premeditation, said that he showed her the shotgun, loaded, and said he was gonna kill his

stepfather. The thing that made me question her story was that the police found the shotgun,

unloaded, the next day. I wondered why he would unload it if he was ready to kill his stepfather.

The second thing being that he had Battered Child Syndrome which is admissible in the state, and

the last thing being that the father beats him and threatened to kill Dale Reynolds.

Jan said that He just showed me the shotgun, and it was loaded. A very important thing

is that she says is was loaded, but the next day it was unloaded. As a jury, we were interested in

why Dale would unload the shotgun if he was planning on killing his stepfather. I also was

interested in Dales Battered Child Syndrome, which an expert doctor on the subject claimed

Dale had and also stated that it could have given and most likely gave Dale the impression he

was in imminent danger of his father, therefore resulting in self defense. The last important thing

I noticed is that everyone was making it a big deal that Dale stole the guns from his father the
Hunter Nilsen Nilsen
1
Ms. Moser
Period 2
25 April 2017
morning he killed him. The important fact here though is that the night before, his stepfather

threatened to get rid of Dale once and for all. He needed these guns to protect himself from his

father. Dale had reason between all of his actions which claims he is innocent of 1st degree

murder.