When murder trials are the subject of lessons in social studies class, the learning typically takes place with a textbook in hand. But yesterday, the Law and Justice classes witnessed such a trial firsthand.

On Wednesday, Mr. Greenleaf’s Law and Justice students took a field trip to the Allegheny County Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh. Greenleaf offers the optional field trip to his students every year, but he has no knowledge regarding the nature of the trial in advance of each trip.

“Some years we get lucky and get an interesting case, and other times we see cases involving things like vandalism,” Greenleaf said.

This year, the students got very lucky — if that’s the accurate term.  Regardless, the trip participants will likely not forget the day anytime soon.

The trial they saw on Wednesday was a murder case involving a suspect who was referred to as “D.R.,” a young man in his early twenties who, along with three others, is alleged to have brutally beaten a cab driver to death in Pittsburgh in 2017.  The murder was covered extensively by local media.

“The trip certainly made the students think,” Greenleaf said. “There are still so many unanswered questions with this case.”

The Law and Justice students were able to listen to the testimony of one of the three other suspects who is alleged to have assisted D.R. in the murder.

“I was intrigued nonstop by the news I was hearing and what else could possibly come out about the night the event occurred,” senior Joci Rice said.  “Watching these young men, who are just a few years older than I am, made me wonder what could have led them to this point in their lives.”

Once the prosecuting attorney put the alleged accomplice on the witness stand, the planning, location, and execution of the actual murder were all confessed in exchange for a plea deal for a lesser sentence.

“It wasn’t like the murder trials we see on TV,” Greenleaf said.  “The lawyers went piece by piece and detail by detail. It was methodical, not rushed.”

Greenleaf’s students were left in silent shock as the accomplice stated that his mother saw the four of them hide the body behind their own house. D.R sat quietly in the defendant’s chair, barely ten feet from the students.

District Judge Armand Martin allowed for a short break after an hour and temporarily dismissed the defendant and the alleged accomplices, at which point he took the opportunity to speak directly with the NA students in attendance. Martin explained the details of the case and the nature of his role in the criminal justice system before advising the students to make positive decisions.

“If you don’t,” he said, referencing the defendant’s empty seat,  “this is how you’ll end up.”

For Law and Justice student Lily Howard, the event was life-altering.

“It really changed my perspective on things,” Howard said. “I knew this stuff happened in Pittsburgh, but I never felt so close to it or this involved.”

When Greenleaf returned to NASH at the end of the day, he took a moment to reflect.

“A field trip should open up inquisitive minds,” Greenleaf said, “and this one certainly did.”