Local attorneys will try to convince an audience of the innocence or guilt of Tom Robinson from the classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” On Thursday, February 21, 2013, the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando, Fla., will re-create the closing arguments from this case in its historic 1927 courtroom.
The event will be moderated by Richard S. Dellinger, partner with Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed P.A. and the current 11th Circuit Vice President for the Federal Bar Association. Judge Bob LeBlanc, a Circuit Judge for the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, will be acting as the trial’s judge. Roger B. Handberg a prosecutor for the Orlando Division of the United States Attorney’s Office will take the role as prosecutor and will be joined by James W. Smith III, an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Orlando Division, acting as the Defense Attorney.
The reenactment will revisit the controversial theme of racial injustice brought to light in Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1960 novel and attempt to address difficult questions about race and equal justice from a current perspective. In the novel, Atticus Finch is appointed by the court to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a young white woman. Finch establishes that the accusers are lying, but despite significant evidence of Robinson’s innocence, the jury convicts him.
6 p.m. cocktails and hors d’oeuvres; 7 p.m. program. Members $10; non-members $20. First 50 educators to R.S.V.P. are free. Call (407) 836-7010 to reserve your place.
The Orange County Regional History Center is located at 65 E. Central Blvd. in downtown Orlando. Visit thehistorycenter.org for more information.
