How much protection from search and seizure does the Fourth amendment truly grant Americans? What are the legal boundaries for probably cause? How do police officers interact with civilians? The Court of Appeals of Indiana endeavored to answer all of these questions and more to an audience of students, teacher, and community members on Friday, April 19th. For years, the Court of Appeals has been conducting what they have named “Appeals on Wheels”: taking various appellate trials to various places around the state including community centers, high schools, and colleges in order to inform about the legal matters and the court system in general.

Appeals on Wheels visited Adams on the 19th to hear the oral arguments of a man appealing based on a supposed unconstitutional search and seizure of his car which overturned an unlicensed gun. On appeal, Carl Dahlin and his lawyer argue that this gun is inadmissible evidence as it was obtained unlawfully, while the state prosecutor argues the opposite.

The oral arguments presented were composed of equal time for both sides in which they could present their theories and respond to the many questions the three judges provided them with. In addition to questions about the situation, the judges also asked the lawyers to clarify legal terms, definitions, and case law for the audience, including reasonable suspicion, the exclusionary rule, and probable cause.

Adams, very competitive in the Indiana High School Mock Trial program, attracted many mock trial students to the event, from many different teams and in several grades. With many state championship titles, Adams teams hope to return to the state competition next year and advance to nationals, as was previously done by a team in 2017. As an excellent example for developing mock trial attorneys, many considered Appeals on Wheels the first step towards the goal of nationals.

Gallery • 5 Photos

The Appeals on Wheels setup.