An important case will be heard Saturday in the moot courtroom in Swen Parson Hall dealing with a hypothetical person and a hypothetical crime.

The Fifth Annual NIU Prize Moot Court Competition will be held at 10:30 a.m., said College of Law Assistant Dean Leonard Mandell. The intermural competition is argued by second year NIU law students, he said.

Eight teams of two law students, representing about 20 percent of the NIU law school, entered the preliminary competition, Mandell said. Only the two teams made the final competition.

The public is invited to hear the two teams of law students, John Salzeider and Steve Ihm, as well as Mary Beth Burns and Peggy Gerkin, argue a case in order to win the Carl Cicero Prize, Mandell said. The prize is named for the first NIU law student to win the award. The winners of the competition will receive plaques and donated law books, he said.

The argument will be heard by Illinois Supreme Court Justice Seymore Simon, northern Illinois district federal Judge Stanley Roszkowski and Professor Albert Alschuler from the University of Chicago Law School, Mandell said.

Ihm said the competition will give people a good insight into an appellate process. Usually people only see trial court cases, and appellate court cases are a level above trial cases, he said.

The law students will orally argue a hypothetical case dealing with a juvenile who has been convicted in adult court, Mandell said. The 16-year-old juvenile was tried in the adult court because of previous crimes, he said. During the juvenile’s arrest for assault, battery and robbery, his gym bag was searched, he said.

The case is being appealed because of questions dealing with search and seizure and jurisdictional grounds, he said. Mandell said the students will attempt to determine if trying the defendant in adult court was appropriate and if the search was reasonable.

The students will be judged on their presentation of the argument as well as style and persuasion, Mandell said. The winners of the competition will receive their prizes at a banquet following the competition, he said.