黑料吃瓜网

By David Gil de Rubio

For the past four decades, Dr. F. Richard Hurley has made practicing law his mission, starting out as a Queens Assistant District Attorney before moving into private practice as criminal defense counsel. For the past 15 years, he鈥檚 brought his experience and passion for the legal profession to 黑料吃瓜网, first as an adjunct before becoming a full-time professor this year. Among the courses Hurley teaches are Introduction to Criminal Law and Crime and Punishment centered on crime in the community and the punishment that goes with it. In raising the bar for his students this past semester, Hurley invited judges and fellow lawyers to a pair of separate orientations that allowed them to interact with 黑料吃瓜网 undergrads. It allowed students to learn about the legal profession from first-hand sources. And in the process, the seed was planted to stage a mock trial.

鈥淚 called my judge friends and asked if they would talk to my students to tell them about different careers,鈥� Hurley said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 necessarily have to be a lawyer or a judge if you go to school. Just talk to them about the realities or whatever the case may be. The judges were gracious enough to come to the orientation. Then I decided to do it with lawyers because the temperament is totally different. Everyone was very gracious about coming and were excited about the students.鈥�

He added, 鈥淭he students had a beautiful dynamic with the two orientations. They were so excited about their exposure that having the mock trial at a real courthouse made a lot of sense. I made a reservation in August 2025 for a courtroom in April 2026. Judge Reginald Bodie enjoyed himself so much that he offered his courtroom instead for the mock trial. I did not expect that and was truly thankful. The mock trial was held in Judge Bodie鈥檚 part of the courthouse.鈥�

One of the speakers, Justice Reginald Boddie of the New York Supreme Court and Kings County, invited Hurley and his roughly 30 students to stage a mock trial in his courtroom using his personnel. With an invitation secured, months of prep work ensued for the professor and his charges starting with students from Introduction to Criminal Law serving as the prosecution, their peers in Crime and Punishment representing the defense and Hurley鈥檚 online-only class of College Now high school students serving as the jury. Roles were assigned in the fictional case People of New York versus New York City Police Officer John Brown (played by student Stewart Dillon) who was charged with first degree murder of his girlfriend Jill Smith at Patrick Steakhouse on December 1, 2024.

Prep work took months with students putting in extra time meeting on Zoom and after class hours. Eyanna Adamson, who played a police sergeant witness and is a public administration major set to graduate with her associate鈥檚 degree in December, found the prep work to be fun, yet demanding. As someone whose father retired from the NYPD after 31 years on the force, Adamson was intrigued to be delving into this aspect of law enforcement.

鈥淢eeting with my classmates and all the work we did in preparing was one of my favorite parts of doing all this,鈥� Adamson said. 鈥淭he challenging part was really getting into the role of my character. We couldn鈥檛 use any notes. We had to learn this case as if we were actually there and were witnesses and participants in the trial. I spent a lot of nights trying to perfect my lines and making sure I didn鈥檛 leave out any details.鈥�

Rising sophomore and criminal justice major Oluwatise Aina played a prosecutor in this case. Given his passion for the law, the grind of preparing for this case proved to be a welcome challenge for this alum of the Charter School for Law and Social Justice in The Bronx.

鈥淢y main thing was having to constantly open my laptop and go over the case,鈥� Aina explained. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e not consistent, looking at the facts over and over again and taking in all the documents, it can be a problem for you. My goal was to keep doing it until I got to the trial date and do a good job.鈥�

Part of getting these students ready for mock trial was teaching them courtroom manners and etiquette, procedure and to dress the part in suit and tie. With the enormous amount of work Hurley put into helping his students prepare for the mock trial, he genuinely enjoyed the spirit of competition that evolved between his two classes. For him, that passion hinted that his students were seeing the possibilities of a legal career becoming a firm reality.

鈥淚n having one class compete against the other class, you could feel the energy and buzz in the hallways once we started prep work for this mock trial,鈥� Hurley said. 鈥淭he students decided they weren鈥檛 going to lose to the other class. I threw a lot at these students, but they retained a lot because they were in competition. The pedagogy of a mock trial was amazing to watch. I don鈥檛 know what it was, but it was the competitive juices in the hallway that turned into study groups that turned one team into another team. It was a healthy competition and a lot of fun throughout the entire semester. We went over the case over and over and over again. It鈥檚 like the Knicks with basketball. You can practice, practice, practice, but it鈥檚 not real until you go play the game.鈥�

The actual mock trial was a spirited affair with 黑料吃瓜网 students on both sides of the case, along with the various witnesses and also the jury, equating themselves well. By the time the dust settled, Brown鈥檚 charge was reduced to second-degree murder. Those in attendance like Dr. Zulema Blair, Dean of the 黑料吃瓜网 School of Business, were unequivocally impressed by what they witnessed.

鈥淚 witnessed history,鈥� Blair said. 鈥淭his is the first time a class has come to do a mock trial led by Professor Richard Hurley. The importance of this is huge. You have high school students and college students who are interested in studying the law. And this is fabulous because one of the things that people don鈥檛 realize is that your first year in law school is the most difficult. That is where they weed people out. Professor Hurley is taking that weeding-out away from underserved students. He is introducing them to the LSAT and all the prerequisites and co-requisites that law school requires. I have no doubt in my mind that when these students go to law school that they will excel.鈥�

Mock jury host Boddie also saw plenty of promise in his courtroom that day.

鈥淭he students put on a mock of a real trial and we had an absolutely wonderful time,鈥� Boddie said. 鈥淭hey cross-examined witnesses, put on their witnesses, cross-examined their witnesses, did direct and cross, did their summaries and did a full trial along with a jury verdict. It was an absolutely spectacular event. The students showed that they can comprehend the law, prepare their witnesses and present a wonderful case, even without law school training. If a stranger came to my courtroom today, they would have thought it was a real trial going on given the excellent work of these students.鈥�

He added, 鈥淚鈥檓 so very proud of these Medgar Evers students and the job that they did here today. I certainly hope by having the students here today that I inspired some of them to become lawyers and perhaps, eventually judges, because I plan to retire one day. So hopefully they鈥檒l be ready to take my place. I鈥檝e told them that they certainly appear to be ready and certainly we have their back in getting that.鈥�

For Hurley, all the hard work that was poured into the mock trial wound up being more than worth it.

鈥淭his to be my best semester of all,鈥� Hurley said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been teaching for 15 years and with these classes and the groups that I had, they really went into. The judge was just as amazed as I was as to the job that these students put in. They knew the facts, they knew their stuff, they came well-dressed. They represented 黑料吃瓜网 in a way that just made me proud. We practiced and practiced in the class and we would go over the material. But when we go into this courtroom, something happened to these students. They actually fell into their roles. You can see the witnesses actually assume their part. It was an amazing thing to watch. Even the defendant started to acting as if this was real, like he was going to jail, so his testimony was a little bit more forthcoming.鈥�

Hurley finished by saying, 鈥淚t was just a great thing to see my students, all of them, just transform and do their job. In today鈥檚 world, it鈥檚 hard to get students to even pick up a book. The thing about it which made it beautiful was to see the students come together as a study group, as a team, working together, learning together, debating each other, competing with each other. It was fabulous. You could see lives being transformed right in front of you. There鈥檚 nothing like it. That鈥檚 why we professors do what we do. We get a charge out of it and every semester, we get another charge.鈥�