James Zinser, Jan Cooper, and Marc Gilmore heard the arguments.
Students present their case using charts and graphs showing their chemical analysis.
But as the investigation developed the focus turned quickly from suicide to murder and, on December 4, Herrick's girlfriend Donna Stevens was charged with the crime. This grim scenario could have been taken from the front page of the local newspaper, an episode of Colombo , or an action-packed feature film. Instead, it was the premise for an unusual assignment in Professor of Chemistry Robert Q. Thompson's Analytical Chemistry class. Students in the two lab sessions were asked to play the roles of expert witnesses for the prosecution and defense in a mock trial held December 12. Thompson was the presiding judge.