Harwich High School Hosts 6th Civil Liberties Forum

For the sixth consecutive year, Harwich High School hosted a Civil Liberties forum for its United States Government students in the HHS Library. The program was developed with Superior Court Judge Robert Rufo, who again presided over the exercise, this year aided by Assistant District Attorney Edward Lynch, Defense Attorney Robert Hofmann, and Sgt. Det. David Jacek of the Harwich Police Department. The forum consisted of two mock Motion to Suppress hearings in which opposing counsel interviewed the arresting officer and argued before the judge whether evidence obtained in the hypothetical scenarios should be allowed at trial. Each session also allowed the 40-50 students attending the opportunity to ask questions and advise Judge Rufo on how he should rule in the case. The exercise is the culmination of the government students month-long unit on Civil Liberties and the Courts. Harwich High School expresses its profound gratitude to Judge Rufo, ADA Lynch, Atty. Hofmann, and Sgt. Jacek for taking the time from their busy professional lives to share their expertise with our students and to make their studies come alive in such a real world scenario. We are extremely fortunate to be able to continue this exercise, and look forward to doing so again next year, and then in our new Monomoy Regional High School the year following.