Tell City students get hands-on criminal justice lesson with local lawyers

A mock trial at Tell City Jr.-Sr. High School brought Perry County’s legal system into Chief Lawalin’s Criminal Justice classroom, with County Prosecutor Samantha Hurst and attorney Walter Hagedorn helping students work through how criminal cases are tried. The school said the lesson focused on the different roles and strategies used in criminal trials, giving students a practical look at how prosecutors, defense attorneys and other courtroom participants fit together.

Hurst brings a countywide perspective to that lesson. She was elected Perry County prosecutor in November 2022, and the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council says she graduated from the University of Southern Indiana in 2014 and the Maurer School of Law in 2017. The Perry County Prosecutor’s Office says its job is to represent the State of Indiana in felony and misdemeanor criminal prosecutions arising in Perry County, a responsibility that puts Hurst at the center of the courtroom work students were studying.

The county lists the prosecutor’s office at 601 Main Street, Suite C, in Tell City, while county government also lists Perry County offices at 2219 Payne Street in Tell City. Those locations put the people students saw in class in the same government network that handles criminal cases across the county. Tell City Jr.-Sr. High School’s student body is listed by Perry County government at 643 students in grades 7-12, giving the program a wide reach inside one building.

Hagedorn’s presence added another layer of local relevance. Walter Hagedorn Law says he practices in Tell City in a general practice firm that handles criminal defense, family law, wills and estate planning, business formation, contracts, real estate, personal injury and mediation. His firm profile says he returned to Indiana in 2006 and continued his legal career in his hometown of Tell City, a detail that ties the mock trial exercise to a career path students can picture close to home.

The school has paired that classroom work with other exposure to the justice system. In a separate visit, Chief Lawalin’s Criminal Justice students toured the Perry County Sheriff’s Department to learn about day-to-day operations. Tell City Jr.-Sr. High School says its career pathways align with Indiana graduation requirements and are meant to prepare students for college, careers and life beyond high school, making the criminal justice track one of the clearest routes from schoolwork to public service in Perry County.