The sound of debating, judges speaking, witnesses standing, the gavel slamming, time ticking, and papers flipping, Mock Trial season is officially here.
“This is only my second year teaching Mock trial. I had some students last year who really enjoyed it,” Mock Trial and English teacher Jennifer Hadley said, “They had done it previously, and the teacher either went North or South so they didn’t have anybody who would do it.”
Hadley stepped up to bring this team back, and is changing it for the better as the team is growing.
“We had enough students to have two teams in Mock Trial this year.” Hadley said.
Junior Yuridia Hernandez-Tapic and freshmen Oliver Potters are two members of Mock Trial, and had their first trial on October 24th.
“Mock Trial is like a faux trial,” Hernandez-Tapic said. “We get a case every year, and it’s sort of the same case across the state, then we prepare our cases.”
Since Hernandez-Tapic has been doing Mock Trials for 2 years now, she knows how Mock Trials work.
“You get put on the side of the defense or plaintiff, and the plaintiff does a prosecution now with prosecution this year, and you develop an argument,” Hernandez-Tapic said. “So then you make your opening and you have your counsel.”
Hernandez-Tapic explains that during the trial they look at the cases and the affidavits of all the witnesses. This is a written statement confirmed by oath used as evidence in the court. Then they prepare cross and direct examination along with the opening and closing of the trial.
“Basically you just try to prove that your side is the more correct side to be successful in the trial,” Hernandez-Tapic said.
Potters got ready for the Mock Trial so he was confident and prepared for the Trail.
“We prepare by practicing every Sunday and then we get with our teams and read our affidavit and make sure we answer the questions,” Potters said.
Potters’ preparation paid off as their trial went well.
“I think I did good and we were all prepared,” Potters said. “It was a good trial.”
Potters was happy with how his team did in the mock trial and Hernandez-Tapic feels the same way.
“I feel we did a really good job in our points, especially in our opening and closing,”Hernandez-Tapic said. “I think we held our own.”
As the first trial already went by, Hernandez-Tapic and Potter’s team are getting furthermore prepared for the next one.
“Our next step is to review our weak points to see what the other side did to us and how they impacted our argument by not reshaping it,” Hernandez-Tapic said. “So that the argument isn’t destructive or easy to rebuttal.”