Mock Trial - Year One

First year of Mock Trial, and I'm excited yet nervous about what I'm going to have to do. In the beginning, I learned the details of the whole trial, Bratton vs. State of California, and went over the defense and cross with the whole team. Ms. Taylor didn’t know which position I would play so she asked me to come to each practice and review the entire case. Eventually I was given the position of Dr. Casey Scott, the prosecution expert witness. Apparently I fit the role perfectly but I was concerned about having one of the most difficult witness positions during my first year in mock trial. However, Taylor was very adamant about my position on the team so I went on to learn my questions and answers.

The memorization of the witness statement and the direct examination was the easy part. The hard part was developing my character. Now, I’ve never acted in my life, so I was nervous when Ms. Taylor started discussing what my character’s personality would be. She wanted me to be an obsessive compulsive doctor who would be arrogant. I’m not naturally arrogant, or at least I don’t think I am, so it was hard at first to play the part. After long hours of practice afterschool with the team I was able to finally get all my lines right and play the witness accordingly.

Now was the time for the actual competition. I was very nervous but excited to go up against the other teams in front of judges and attorneys. The very first trial went pretty well. The team we went up against was not very experience which went well for me because the attorney didn’t really know what he was doing. The rest of the team was amazing as we have many veterans on the team. We won that trial meaning we went up against a harder team in the next round. The next trial was for our defense side meaning I didn’t have go up as a witness but it was still very exciting being able to just watch our team. We also won that trial.

Although we lost our third trial, we were able to make it to the elite eight. Our next competition was with Woodcrest Christian High School, one of the most competitive teams in the competitions. Their attorneys and witnesses were great and it was very nerve wracking for the whole team. Although we lost that trial, I was still proud to be part of a team that went to the elite eight.