Surprise In-Court Tactic Nets UC Law Student Confession: "I Will"

The decision to be rendered in the UC College of Law's mock courtroom Thursday afternoon would be life-changing. And while the case may have been a mere textbook exercise, the outcome would be real and binding.

Mr. Prosecutor, can you stop being hostile to the witness long enough to ask the question we all came to hear?

"Angelina, I love you so much, I can't imagine my life without you. Would you please marry me?"

Court - and class - adjourned. Love triumphs the law.

This is the story lawyers Kory Jackson and Angie McDonald will tell their grandchildren about how it all began, how one seemingly routine day in Angie's final month of law school became the start of their lives together.

Angie (Angelina is her given name) was attending Professor Christo Lassiter's Criminal Procedure II course. Lassiter lectured on cross-examination scenarios and then, as he had warned her a week prior, called for her to come forward and sit in the witness stand.

Lassiter had also told her a special guest would be coming to class to conduct the cross-examination, but he didn't say who.

So when a moment later the dapperly attired Jackson strode in, the set-up was on.

Jackson, a member of the College of Law's Class of 2000 who is now an attorney with the Cincinnati firm of Baker & Hostetler, had approached Lassiter several weeks back with the idea of an in-class proposal. ("A lot of people would go to a beach or some other romantic setting. I think the fact they chose here shows a true `love' for the law," quipped Lassiter later.)

If McDonald was flustered by Jackson's surprise appearance, she didn't show it. She took the stand, Jackson went to the podium and Lassiter assumed the role of judge. "We don't really know what's going to happen," Lassiter coyly told the class, which was already in on Jackson's plan. "You may proceed, sir."

For 10 minutes, they convincingly played out the details of a case involving a jealous man named John Diamond and a shooting where Angie, portraying the victim's best friend, was a witness. Their interplay was pointed and sharp, even though when McDonald asked Lassiter before class if she should be a cooperative witness or not, the professor advised her "very cooperative."

Finally, Jackson called her away from the stand for an in-court demonstration of what she had seen. Before letting her retake her seat, he asked her to read back aloud a portion of testimony she had given earlier.

What he handed her was a paper with the poem, "The Bait," by John Donne. It was the first poem he had read to her when the two former English majors as undergraduates first began dating.

And then Jackson got down on bended knee and made his proposal.

Not much deliberation was needed to reach this decision.

"Of course I will," was McDonald's reply, although not to the liking of "Judge" Lassiter, who asked her to repeat it more loudly so that all in the court could hear it.

Then the celebration was on.

"I've seen three proposals made, and this was the best of the three," judged class member Gerald Griggs, a friend of both the bride and groom-to-be. "You knew eventually it would happen. I'm so happy for them I can't even put it into words."

McDonald said she had no idea what was coming, even after the surprise of Jackson's appearance wore off. "I was trying to stay in character, and I kept thinking, `Why is he trying to throw me off?' I was getting mad," she said.

But once his true purposes were made clear, she had to admit, "This was the coolest," even though his words made her hands start shaking and made it difficult for her to breathe.

Cake, champagne and balloons were brought out, and the celebration was on. The couple are headed for a future in Cincinnati, with McDonald having already accepted a position with Dinsmore & Shohl in that firm's medical malpractice and products liability group.

Now they have testimony to support that they will share that future together.

"This was perfect," said Jackson.