It may well be the trial of the millennium.
A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Luke Skywalker is accused of 5,999 counts of murder — when on May 25, 1977, and during innumerable repeats thereafter — he destroyed the Death Star in “Star Wars.”
The trial is set to start at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 13 at Dormont Public Library and despite the gravity, or lack thereof, surrounding the case, it will last an hour.
It’s the latest installment of the Allegheny County Bar Association’s “Fairy Tale Mock Trials” series that the group of legal eagles has staged annually for 5 years.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of people interested (in the case),” said Pittsburgh attorney Catherine S. Loeffler, who is one of the organizers of the event staged by the Young Lawyers Division of the association.
Pittsburgh lawyer Matthew Feinman will portray Skywalker.
The “trial” is scripted and they’re rehearsing now for the show, which enlists the help of children in the crowd to be the jury who decides the case, Loeffler said.
It’s free to attend and those who do so can dress in their favorite “Star Wars” costumes, she said.
Loeffler speculated that because of the publicity surrounding Skywalker’s case it’s going to be tough for prosecutors to get a guilty verdict.
The bar association faced a similar situation last year, when Harry Potter was acquitted of crimes he was accused of committing in England.
Goldilocks, meanwhile, was convicted of crimes against three bears when her case was tried, Loeffler said.
Regardless of the April 13 verdict, Skywalker will be subjected to double-jeopardy, as the case will be retried at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 18, at Northland Public Library in McCandless.
