Presenters
Jennifer Ritchie and David Martin, Senior Deputy Prosecutors, King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office
Overview
This two-session applied case simulation uses a self-defense scenario drawn from real case experience to explore how democratic institutions respond when law, lived experience, coercive control, and institutional obligation collide. Students work in three groups, apply US and French legal frameworks to the same facts, and present their reasoning.
The workshop is designed for 160 minutes of contact time across two sessions of approximately 80 minutes each, plus an optional 60-minute in-person or Zoom orientation with the presenters ahead of the first session. A lecture at the University of Nanterre on October 14 on recantation and coercive control provides additional context for students who are able to attend; those who cannot will receive a short primer.
Purpose
Did Maria act in self-defense when she injured Daniel? Students apply a short legal guide to the case, explain their answer, and confront the strongest argument against it. No prior legal training or outside research is required.
Outcomes
- Identify the immediate danger, necessity, and proportionality of defensive force in a real case scenario.
- Explain how a history of abuse affects the assessment of a person's perception of danger.
- Apply a legal rule to contested facts and acknowledge uncertainty.
- Identify a similarity or difference between US and French law on the same facts.
- Engage with the role of institutional response: prosecution, advocacy, and legislative reform — in cases where the survivor may also be a defendant.
Student Groups
Students are divided into three groups. Each group gives a two-minute opening and a one-minute response: a provisional answer, two supporting facts, and the strongest objection to their position.
- Maria's Counsel. Makes the self-defense argument under Washington State law, explaining why the history of abuse matters and addressing the uncertainty about timing.
- Prosecutor. Assesses the self-defense claim, recommends proceeding, declining, or seeking further evidence, and addresses the strongest objection to their recommendation.
- Comparative Law Group. Applies the French legal rule (Article 122-5 of the French Penal Code) to the same facts, gives a provisional answer, and identifies one similarity or difference that affects the reasoning.
Core Tension
Maria's history of abuse and Daniel's serious injury both matter. Recognizing her as a survivor does not settle the self-defense question; his injury does not prove her use of force was unlawful. The simulation asks students to hold both realities at once and explain how their recommendation addresses the legal uncertainty and the consequences of getting it wrong.
