By Luke Langlois, The Mock Trial Guy

Whether it be through assembly announcements, student chatter, or blog posts, I’m sure you’ve heard of Mock Trial. As the new season approaches, I’d like to answer the following question: what exactly is Mock Trial? As a member of the Mock Trial team, I am obliged to write this post so more people appreciate us and the extracurricular in general.

At its heart, Mock Trial is a mock trial. Each year, a criminal case is written by the higher-ups of the program. The case is built to be flexible, so that it can be argued in favor of the defense or the prosecution with no intentional bias. The case is the center of all Mock Trial matches. A match is comprised of two teams (schools). One team is the defense; one team is the prosecution. In one Mock Trial season, teams compete in four different matches, two as the defense and two as the prosecution. If a team makes the playoffs, they are part of the “elite 8” and play some extra matches, depending on how well they do. Here’s a little known fact: last year’s Palm Valley Mock Trial team was the best in the Coachella Valley, and we placed #9 out of 27 in the Riverside County (one spot out of a playoff berth).

So, just like any competition, there are winners and there are losers. Here’s a bit of a twist. The winner of the verdict in court will not necessarily be the winner of the match. The judge of the trial determines the verdict in court, while the scoring attorneys are the ones who determine the winner of the match. The winner of the competition is the team with the higher number of total points. Each competing member of the team is scored according to how effective they are at their job. For example, part of a prosecution or defense attorney’s score would be based on one of their cross examinations. The score would be gauged by how well they can tear down the witness, and therefore the opposing argument, during the cross examination. Part of a witness’s score would be based on how well they can defend against the opposing attorney’s attempt to tear down their evidence. The winner is determined by the cumulative number of points earned by each member. Mock Trial teams are not told who wins and who loses in the courthouse. The total score and results of the match are released a day or two after the trial. If you ever hear a Mock Trial member screaming “THE SCORE’S OUT!!!!” this is why.

I briefly mentioned scoring attorneys last paragraph. What is a scoring attorney? A scorer is an actual attorney. In Mock Trial, the officials aren’t just any old referees (no offense referees).  The scoring attorneys ARE attorneys. The judge IS a judge. This is definitely one of the best parts of Mock Trial. It gives it some authenticity. When playing varsity basketball, unless you are LeBron James Jr, you aren’t talking with LeBron after the game. After a Mock Trial match, you are welcome to speak to the scoring attorneys. In fact, the scoring attorneys would approach me after a match more often than not.

Each person plays a role. Now, I know what you’re thinking. What kind of role am I talking about? Is it a theater role? Is it role-ing the dice? Surprise! It’s neither. A Mock Trial participant can compete as an attorney, witness, bailiff, or clerk. I’ll start with explaining the positions of the clerk and bailiff. A bailiff keeps the order in a court of law and is responsible for swearing in witnesses. The clerk is the timekeeper of the competition, making sure teams are each given an equal amount of time to present their case. The defense team provides the bailiff, and the prosecution provides the clerk. Attorneys can either be pretrial, defense, or prosecution. A pretrial attorney argues over the pretrial motion, which is usually an argument over an interpretation of the law. Last year, the argument was over whether or not a piece of GPS evidence was collected lawfully or if it was a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Defense and prosecution attorneys are in charge of conducting the trial and, of course, doing it in a way that favors their side. The tasks of defense and prosecution attorneys include the following: opening statements, closing statements, and examinations of witnesses. That leads me to the final role, WITNESSES!

Each team brings the witnesses that contribute evidence to their side of the argument. It would be an ill-advised move to call a witness from the other team to the witness stand, to say the least. A witness can find their information from their witness statement in the case packet, the lovely packet that holds all the information on the case for the season. The witness statement encompasses what a witness knows. A witness is responsible for knowing the information in their witness statement; they should know what they should and should not say in order to help their team. In a mock trial, a witness is not a person who simply says that they saw something happen. A witness can be an expert medical analyst who is brought in to explain the wounds found on a victim, the defendant,  or someone who simply believes they saw something happen. Nevertheless, witnesses make or break every Mock Trial match. Every role in Mock Trial is important, and each competitor has the ability to swing the match to their favor.

Finally, I’ll give a brief rundown of what actually goes on during a match. The teams are ushered in the courtroom and wait for the judge. Introductions are done, and then everyone moves to their proper seat position in the courtroom. Before the case presentations begin, the pretrial motion is argued. The judges give their rulings on the pretrial motion. Then, the prosecution gives its opening statement, and the defense may give its opening statement. After the opening statements, the prosecution presents its case. Cases are presented in the form of questioning your own team’s witnesses in the direct examinations. After a prosecuting attorney finishes the direct examination of a witness, the defense has the chance to conduct a cross examination on the same witness. Once the prosecution presents all its evidence, calls up all of its witnesses, or runs out of time, its case is rested and the defense gets to present its case. The process is the same. They call witnesses, conduct direct examinations, and the prosecution will cross examine the witnesses of the defense. After both arguments have been fully presented, the closing statements are given, which is pretty self-explanatory. After the closing statements, the judge calls the verdict, the court is adjourned, and the mock trial teams begin to look back at their performance.  

That just about covers the basics of a match. Now, you may find it easier to follow what’s going on with our team and what any of the jargon means. If there are any questions that are floating around in your noggin, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll probably answer.

Editor: Bella Bier