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Brophy Roundup

The Student News Site of Brophy College Preparatory

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Mock Trial combines courtroom experience with competition

Tournament scheduled for March 27

By Sam Fleury ’10
The Roundup

The only place where “the state’s star witness is a coked out drug dealer,” according to Blake Tonn ’10 is at the Mock Trial state competition March 27.

Mock trial spent the day competing against other schools in multiple trials.

The case surrounded a fake car and light rail crash.

This year the entire team has qualified for the state tournament.

“Its kinda like Law and Order,” said Joshua Hansen-Staggs ’10.
Students change positions during different trials.

For Hansen-Staggs the roles are witness and lawyer.

Half of the cases he is the drug dealer and the other half the time he is a lawyer.

It’s a small team lead by Ms. Lauren Karp consisting of seven student members.

Unlike speech and debate, Mock trial is not teamed up with Xavier.

Competitions are long with each trial taking 70 minutes or more, depending on objections.

With multiple trials the event takes all day.

The team has to arrive at 8 a.m. and the competitions go until 7 p.m.

The trial is the same throughout the competition but could be judged either way.

That is where the competition comes into play.

According to Hansen-Staggs, this case is about a car crash causing a young girl to be thrown out of the vehicle.

The light rail conductor was on his cell phone and didn’t stop the train.

However, the car was in the midst of a high speed chase.

It seems like either party could be at fault. It is the mock trial team’s job to sway juries to their position.

Competitions begin in the spring and teams have to qualify for state.

Those on the team will have to prepare their cases. This includes how they will cross examine witnesses, be the witnesses, judge the case and almost anything else needed for the courtroom.

The tournament is organized by the Arizona High School Mock Trial Program.

Visit roundup.brophyprep.org to see tournament results. The national competition will be in Atlanta, Ga. this year.

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