Students gathered at the Hunter Henry Center Wednesday to watch the Mississippi Appeals Court hold oral arguments in which University of Mississippi law students were allowed to argue one of the cases.
The court occasionally holds oral arguments in cities outside Jackson through the Court on the Road program to allow students to see how the court operates firsthand.
Third year students from the University of Mississippi School of Law were allowed to argue one of the cases, Douglas Duvall Hill v. State of Mississippi, appealing the conviction of felony child abuse.
The other case argued, Judy Wilbanks v. State of Mississippi, involved the conviction of aggravated assault and capital murder in 2003.
The three appeals court judges hearing the oral arguments were Kenny Griffis, William Myers and Larry Roberts.
Myers, who graduated from MSU, said law students he has seen do a good job with their arguments.
“They’re always thoroughly prepared and have always done an excellent job,” Myers said.
During oral arguments the appellant and the appellee are both given 20 minutes to deliver their reasons why the original decision should be reversed or affirmed.
Oral arguments are used in addition to briefs, which include exhibits and transcripts of the trial, to allow the judges to determine all the facts and form their opinion.
Roberts said the majority of appeals cases are decided without oral argument – less than 10 percent of cases require them.
“Oral argument generally is permitted in those cases when the court feels that the issues being argued are not clear cut and that oral argument would be of benefit to the members on the court in understanding more completely the issue,” Roberts said.
After the arguments were complete the judges took questions from the audience, which consisted mostly of political science and business law students.
Sophomore political science major Aineisha Johnson attended the arguments for her law and politics class.
She said she thought the Ole Miss law students did very well.
The students from Ole Miss Law who argued the case were Brian Harris of Southaven and J. Nathaniel King of Nashville, Tenn.
They argued the felony child abuse case against Special Assistant Attorney General Stephanie Wood.
They were allowed to present arguments as lawyers under the supervision of attorney Phillip Broadhead, clinical professor and director of the Criminal Appeals Clinic at Ole Miss Law.
Harris said the real world experience of being able to argue a case as a student is a great opportunity.
“Law students don’t benefit from a residency in the way that med. [medical] students or pharmacy students do,” Harris said. “It’s one thing to know the black letter of the law and that’s obviously important, but being able to apply it, being able to make an argument for or against it, that’s the fundamental nature of what it means to be a trial or appellate lawyer.”
King said he was very pleased with how the arguments went.
“We had fantastic preparation from the school,” King said. “Professor Broadhead has spent countless hours with us. It was great.”
Both students said they want to practice criminal law after graduating.
The MSU Pre-Law Society and the MSU department of political science and public administration invited the court to hold arguments at Mississippi State. This is the second time the Court of Appeals has held oral arguments at MSU.
The case was referred to Ole Miss Law’s Criminal Appeals Clinic by the Office of Indigent Appeals, which helps provides legal representation for indigent appeals court defendants who are convicted of felonies, other than the death penalty. The defendants must also agree to be represented by law students.