MARTINS FERRY — Students at Martins Ferry Middle School got to see some of the consequences of bad choices during the Belmont County Juvenile Court’s final mock trial of the year.

Judge Al Davies conducted the trial, where a plea hearing and sentencing were re-enacted. He commended the juvenile in the defendant’s role for sharing this experience. Afterward, the juvenile expressed hope that other students would not make the same poor choices she had, adding that it was important to get the message out.

A question and answer period was held after the mock trial. The students heard from D.J. Watson, director of Sargus Juvenile Detention Center, about living conditions for those sentenced to a stay.

He described the basic living conditions and the comparatively small rooms where residents are locked in for the night, as well as the lack of amenities and entertainment and restrictions on movement.

“You don’t do what you’re supposed to do … you give all those things up,” he said. “When the door shuts at 8:30 p.m. or 8 p.m., your night’s over. You’re not coming out until the morning.”

Belmont County Assistant Prosecutor Rhonda Greenwood described the resident intake process, including a strip-search for contraband and the disinfection process.

“When you go in, it’s like going to jail for an adult,” she said.

“You don’t want to go there.”

Watson also said regular reports are made about residents’ behavior.

“You’re really under a microscope while you’re there. Not a whole lot of privacy,” he said.

In answer to other questions, court officials said the longest sentence at Sargus was about one year, but the majority of offenders are sentenced to 10-40 days. Questions also touched on the residents’ uniforms.

Greenwood also spoke about “sexting,” or sharing inappropriate photographs. She cited the example of a defendant who was able to obtain multiple photos and extorted the people who took and shared them with the threat of sharing the images to the public.

“We all take pictures of everything. We take pictures of stupid stuff,” she said. “You take pictures and send to one individual and think it’s going to stay with one individual. You are completely wrong. … Have some pride in your person. Have some respect for yourself. Don’t take those pictures and don’t share those pictures.”

She also addressed the issue of cyberbullying, noting that if such interactions rise to the level of threats, a person could be charged with menacing or telecommuncations harassment.

“If you wouldn’t say something to someone face-to-face, don’t do it online,” she said.

Davies shared information about the dangers of drug use. He also spoke against vaping, pointing out that nicotine is highly addictive and there have been cases of fentayl found in vaping paraphernalia.

“Vaping is out of control,” he said. “When I say I want you guys to be healthy, I’m not just wasting breath.”

Afterward, Davies said the series of mock trials was successful.

“The kids are very attentive. They pay attention. They’re interested in the proceeding, and it shows in the quality of the questions they ask at the end,” he said. “This was a good group, and all the schools we’ve been to have been outstanding.”

He said one important part of such outreach is countering assumptions that some drugs are “harmless.”

“We want to get the word out about vaping. We want to get the word out about marjuana,” he said. “The pot lobby is very strong in what they’ve been able to accomplish as far as getting medical marijuana passed, recreational marijuana. We want kids to know that marijuana is not necessarily the cure-all for everything.”

“What we’re trying to do is a deterrent and a prevention,” Watson said. “We would like to keep as many kids as we can from making poor choices.”

“It’s extremely educational to deter kids from going down the wrong path,” Principal Chas Yoder said.

“I thought it was really good,” eighth-grader Lakyn Call said, adding the experience would have been intimidating for a defendant in a courtroom setting.

“I would never want to be in that situation,” her classmate Adeline Jennette said.

Davies said he normally conducts mock trials at half the county schools wach year, but this year he visited all the schools to make up for last year’s COVID-19 losses.

Another event will be held Monday at the Capitol Theatre in Wheeling, where all Belmont County high school students are invited to hear motivational speaker and recovering drug addict Kyle Quilausing.