Trial of Napoleon Bonaparte

Article from the Cochrane Eagle

Now this is a trial that would have been fun to have covered as a reporter - the court appearance of one Napoleon Bonaparte, former emperor of France.

Monsieur Bonaparte was charged by Cochrane High School, Alberta, Canada, with having been responsible for thousands of deaths and usurping power from the Government of France.

He had to argue his fate in front of a lawyer-turned judge and a jury of spectators. The prosecution and defence teams were made up of students and mixed the trial with scripted and ad-lib evidence.

Our correspondent, Marcel Groenland, attended proceedings as the Duke of Wellington and had to give evidence against the man he defeated at Waterloo.

Marcel said there was a great crowd in the Cochrane courthouse for the first trial - Bonaparte having to face a second school-based grilling only days after being found not guilty by six votes to one in his first appearance.

Unfortunately, for Marcel and his co-prosecutors, the second trial was a not-guilty whitewash and the jury was unanimous in Bonaparte's acquittal - and only took three minutes to decide!

"The prosecution, including me, was not too happy about it, but what can you do?" Marcel reported.

"I must say it was very exciting. There was a great crowd the first time. The first time was, in my opinion, the better one because the second time we knew the cross-examinations!"

Anyway, good on you Marcel for taking part in a great trial and thanks for letting us know about it.

- Richard Moore