Al Capone goes to court in mock trial

Capone is revived, just in time for Valentine's Day.

By James Hatler

Published Feb. 12, 2009

Nearly 80 years after his alleged crime, Al Capone was finally tried at the School of Law for his role in the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

At the SMC Cartage Co. garage in Chicago on Valentine's Day 1929, seven young gang members waited for a shipment of contraband to arrive. Then, two men dressed as police officers with shotguns walked into the warehouse and started to frisk the men. The seven men turned and faced the wall as they were told. Another two men came around the corner with Tommy guns. The men with guns started firing, killing six of the young men. The seventh would live about three hours more before dying in a hospital. At least 70 Tommy rounds and 10 shotgun rounds were found at the crime scene.

The case was never officially solved.

In the trial of State of Illinois v. Alphonse Capone, the Law School's Historical and Theatrical Trial Society tried Capone on charges of soliciting for calling for the murder of George Moran, the boss of the murdered gang members. He was found not guilty on this charge.

The society, in its third year, creates trials that could have happened, but did not in their own time. They create an experience based on research and creative liberties.

Janette Landesman, played by high school student Hannah Satterwhite, was the first to testify. She was a seamstress who lived on the apartments across from the scene. This character was a collage of two witnesses, a seamstress and the landlord of the tenements. She said she was one of the first to see the bodies.

The second witness the state called was Sgt. Thomas J. Loftus of the Chicago Police Department, played by law professor Royce Barondes. Loftus said he interviewed one of the murder victims as he lay dying. He said he asked the victim who shot him.

"No one shot me," was the victim's response, Loftus said.

Board of Advocates finance director R.J. Morrison played Moran, and he said Capone would be the only person who could orchestrate the murders.

Missouri Law Review managing editor Kelsey Whitt played Edna Staley, an invented waitress and Capone's former mistress. She testified that Capone told her he had "a bug problem" that he had to get fixed.

Staley said she did not understand what he meant by that until she put the pieces together a month after the murders. As she left the courtroom, she turned to Capone and said, "I hope you burn in hell, you son of a bitch."

Jack McGurn, played by law school graduate Jay Atkins, admitted to the murders and claimed he acted alone.

Law school graduate Caleb Jones played Capone, and testified in his own defense, saying he was merely a used furniture salesperson. He had no links to organized crime, he said.

The jury, which included Mayor Darwin Hindman, took about 30 minutes to come back with a verdict of not guilty.

"It was a pretty open-and-shut case," mock juror Thomas Saucier said. "The state failed to prove its case."

Saucier said he enjoyed being a juror.

"Justice has been served," Capone said after hearing the verdict.