VINEMONT — The Vinemont High School library was turned into a courtroom Tuesday morning as the school’s senior Honors English students conducted a mock trial based on John Milton’s poem, “Paradise Lost.”

Milton’s poem includes the story of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden after eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge, and the students’ trial centered around Eve’s guilt or innocence after she was tempted by the serpent into eating the fruit and sharing it with Adam. 

English teacher Jason Teichmiller presided over the trial as its judge, and deliberating the verdict was a jury made up of Cullman County Schools Superintendent Shane Barnette, Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry, Cullman graduate and former University of Alabama basketball player Lawson Schaffer, Cullman County School Board member Mike Graves, Vinemont teacher Tammy Guthery and Congressman Robert Aderholt’s Press Secretary Carson Clark.

After the defense and prosecution made their cases to the jury, including cross examinations of Adam, Eve, the serpent and Satan, who all testified about their roles in the crime and the temptations that Eve faced when she was encouraged to eat the fruit. 

After closing arguments, the jury’s members found that the prosecution’s case against Eve was too strong to deny and found Eve guilty, but they recommended that her sentence be limited to the punishment she had already received from God. 

Teichmiller said the fundamental question behind the trial, whether or not Eve was guilty in eating the fruit of the tree, led to an easy verdict for the jury, but he commended the students in both the prosecution and defense teams for their work on both sides of the argument. 

“Both cases were argued really well,” he said.

Before the trial got underway, Teichmiller spoke to the Times about his reasons for organizing the mock trial for the students. 

He said Vinemont High School had never had a similar event in the past, but he has worked this year to bring in some new experiences for this year’s senior class after they missed out on some of the usual events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ve been trying to think of extra things that we could do for these kids, because they’ve missed a lot these past two years,” he said. “There’s so much they missed, and I just want to give them some stuff that they can remember.”

Bringing in jury members from around the community was also an important aspect of the trial, because it shows the students that there are people who care about them and their educations, Teichmiller said. 

“I don’t know if they realize how much the community would do for them if people would ask,” he said. “A person can give five minutes of their time that means nothing to them but means the world to other people.”