Travis Watts/Democrat-News The Ugly Duckling's high powered attorney (played by Jason Mackey) pleads his case to the judge (portrayed by Marshall Mayor Connie Latimer) during the mock trial sponsored by the Marshall Public Library Wednesday, July 9, as part of the "Created Equal" program. [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Connie Latimer stepped outside her typical mayoral duties Tuesday, July 8, to temporarily become a judge, presiding over the "Ugly Duckling Trial."

The Marshall Public Library held a mock trial to correlate with the "Created Equal" theme for their "We the People" bookshelf, which was received through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

"It connected 'created equal' down to our youngest kids, but it was also something parents could enjoy," said Bobbie Mackey, children's services coordinator.

In the trial, Mackey played the role of Ugly Duckling (plaintiff) and Amy Crump portrayed Josephine Kicker (defendant), who was being accused of kicking and throwing rocks at the plaintiff.

Jason Mackey and Angie Wells were the attorneys; Mackey represented Duckling and Wells defended Kicker.

The trial began with testimony from Duckling.

"I was just looking for someone to play with," she said. "She (Kicker) kicked me and she shooed me away and she wouldn't stop."

"She reached down and then hit me with a rock," Duckling continued.

Duckling's lawyer then announced they were suing Kicker for a sum of "two million trillion dollars," which Duckling said would cover, "all of my medical expenses and then some."

Kicker then took the stand to tell her side of the story.

She claimed to be innocently feeding the ducks when, "this ugly duckling showed up and she wasn't as pretty as the other ducks."

Kicker admitted to shooing Duckling away, but completely denied assaulting her.

"I did not do that," said Kicker. "She must have fallen down or something."

Kicker's defense attorney then called surprise witness Gretchen I-spy (played by Gretchen Roehrs), who was jogging that day and saw the entire incident.

"I saw this lady (Kicker) feeding them," said I-spy. "She kind of nudged her (Duckling) aside so she could feed the cute ducks."

"I guess that isn't very nice but I wouldn't call it a kick," she added.

Revelations from the defense's witness prompted Duckling to admit that she had lied "just a little bit."

"She (Kicker) looked so nice, but then she said I was ugly," said an emotional Duckling. "I'm alright, I'm sorry."

She went on to say, "I just wanted a friend."

After all the evidence had been heard the judge (Mayor Latimer) gave her ruling.

"What we have here is a case of looking at the outside and not the duckling on the inside," the judge concluded.

"I think both of these clients should do community service in an animal shelter," she said. "I trust that you can be friends coming out of this."

Kicker and Duckling embraced, apologized for their actions and left the courtroom with a newfound friendship.

Contact Travis Watts at marshallreporter@socket.net