Mock Trial of Johnny Cade
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Case of Johnny Cade, a Greaser
Johnny Cade, a
Greaser charged
with first degree
murder…or was it
self-defense?
Bob Sheldon, a Soc,
who was stabbed by
Johnny Cade during
an altercation at the
park late at night.
 You have now read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and should
have a clear understanding of the plot and characters in the
story. You should be able to infer why the characters behave
and take action the way they do.
 Let’s imagine that these story elements have changed:
Johnny Cade survived his injuries from the church fire and will
now face trial for the murder of Bob Sheldon, a Soc. Dallas
Winston also survives; since he’s not upset about Johnny’s
death, he has no reason to suffer a breakdown & act violently.
Assignment Guidelines:
 You will be assigned a role for the Mock Trial of Johnny
Cade. You may not like the role you are assigned to, but
you are still responsible for completing all tasks related to
your assignment.
 Carefully read through each of the writing assignments
for your role in the trial.
 You will spend the next two or three days preparing for
trial…which means you will have to share your writing
assignments with the other groups, so that they can
prepare for a well-organized trial with clear arguments
and rebuttals.
 Please be PROMPT, PREPARED, PRODUCTIVE, & POLITE!
Roles:
 Prosecution Attorneys (2)—You will charge Johnny Cade
with First Degree Murder (That means he had motive, planned the
murder out, and killed Bob Sheldon intentionally.)
 Defense Attorneys (2)—You will defend Johnny Cade
and suggest a lesser charge, Manslaughter (That means that
he did not plan to kill Bob Sheldon; rather he stabbed him in selfdefense.)
 Witnesses (8-9)—Each of you will write information about
your character, using text evidence, to help the
prosecution and defense teams present their cases.
 Jury Members (6-16, depending on your class size)—You
will write information (text evidence) in news articles to
help the prosecution, defense, & witnesses during trial.
Prosecution Attorneys:
 What are you charging Johnny Cade with?
 You must have an opening statement.
(Why should Johnny be found guilty of first degree murder?)
 You must have evidence (text from the book) to support
your charges against Johnny Cade.
 You must have questions for your witnesses & know which
witnesses to use. Know what you need to ask each person
to help your side win.
 Be prepared to take notes & re-question witnesses after the
defense team questions them. (Rebuttal)
 You must have a closing statement. (Is he is guilty…why?)
Defense Attorneys:
 What has Johnny Cade been charged with? What do you
want him to be charged with instead?
 You must have an opening statement. (Why should Johnny
be found innocent of first degree murder?)
 You must have evidence (text from the book) to defend
Johnny Cade against a first degree murder charge.
 You must have questions for your witnesses & know which
witnesses to use. Know what you need to ask each person
to help your side win.
 Be prepared to re-question some witnesses after crossexamination by the prosecution team.
 You must have a closing statement. (Is he not guilty…why?)
Witnesses:
 Each witness must write a character biography about
himself/herself, based on text evidence from the book. (This is from
that character’s POV.)
 You may use Spark Notes from the internet to help develop your
biography. Research your character & include important,
relevant information that could help with the trial (Prosecution & Defense).
 Write a timeline about yourself. Pay particular attention to the
timeline of events from the novel & how they could help or harm
Johnny Cade’s case. (Remember, both sides will use this
information in their cases for & against Johnny.)
 Write about your own relationship with each of the other
witnesses. Are you friends? Are you enemies? Why?
Jury Members:
 Each jury member must help write a biography about each witness,
based on text evidence from the book. (This is for your reference & to help
you with the news stories. Prosecution & Defense teams may also use these to reference.)
 You may use Spark Notes from the internet to help develop each
witness’s biography. Research each character witness& include
important, relevant information that could help with the news stories.
 Each jury member must also help write three short news stories
(1. about the killing, 2. about the escape, & 3. about the rumble) and
put them all into a single newsletter (Use WORD to format your final
newsletter. The teacher will show you how, once rough drafts are written, proofread, & edited for mistakes.)
 Remember, you must not show any bias in your stories. You are just
reporting the stories…not stating your opinion about them. You must
remain neutral (don’t choose sides).
Helpful Resources:
 The Outsiders novel
 Spiral pages completed the past two weeks
 The Outsiders Debate Outline Format sheet
(Prosecution & Defense Attorneys only)
 Spark Notes—see attached link
below:http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/outsiders/characte
rs.html