The witnesses are given witness statements that contain all the details of their history that are important to their case. One thing I've noticed is that the witnesses always have some embarrassing information that could potentially discredit their testimony. They need to learn their history well enough to answer the questions at the trial and remain true to their witness statement or they risk being "perjured". The attorneys prepare their questions, opening statement, closing statement, and pre-trial motions. They learn the rules of introducing evidence into court and they learn different kinds of objections they can make to questions from other attorneys or the testimony of witnesses. More info here.
This year, Isaac was a prosecution attorney and Anastaya was a witness for the defense. As the students became better at their parts, they started practicing at the Denny Youth Center in Everett (juvenile court) in the actual courtrooms the competition would be held in. For 6 weeks, twice a week I would load up the big van with students and take them down to Everett to practice. While they practiced, I'd either run errands or go to Providence Hospital where I'd log onto the wifi network and do my school work. Those trips to Everett made for some crazy evenings at home. Practice was from 3:30-5:30 (held 30 minutes from home) but each time I brought the students back to Arlington I would have to sit and wait for a parent to pick up their child. There were nights when Dode had to leave at 6:50 and I'd be pulling in the driveway at 6:45, no fun! I felt a lot of responsibility to load my car up with other people's children and head off down the freeway. If something had happened, my fault or not, a lot of families would have been impacted! Thankfully, nothing bad ever happened but I sure said a lot of prayers for safety!
The week of the competition, the students had a scrimmage and four trials to compete at. Each team, prosecution and defense, were able to compete twice. The scrimmage we did was with an 8th grade team (Mock trial officially is a high school program). Our scrimmage was the only competition they'd have. At the scrimmage, I got to be on the jury. That was an unexpected bonus! Usually the jury is made up of trial lawyers volunteering their time to be part of the program.
Inside the courtroom for our scrimmage. It was held at Tulalip Tribal Court.
That's the same tribe Dode works for.
Sitting at the prosecution desk before the trial started. The team tries to color coordinate their outfits. Today's outfits were black and hot pink.
Isaac giving his closing statement.
Anastaya filled in at the bailiff. Because Anastaya was the bailiff, she got to go back and meet the judge before the trial started, a special honor. The bailiff is in charge of calling court to order and in keeping track of the time. Each team gets a certain amount of time for each part of the trial. When they run out of time, the opposing team says, "Respectfully your honor, the defense/prosecution is out of time."
The competitions fell on Wednesday evening, Thursday evening, a scrimmage on Friday morning, and two trials on Saturday. By Saturday, it was feeling like we'd been doing a lot of mock trial! On Saturday, Isaac's trial (where our team was the prosecution) was up first. A reporter from the Everett Herald interviewed our team before the competition and sat in the courtroom for the trial. Isaac even made it in the paper!
photo from the newspaper
You can read the article here.
Here is the text of the article:
By Diana Hefley, Herald Writer
The witness, he argued, is an expert in forensic linguistics, not math. He shouldn't be required to add up how much he was paid to testify against a suspected domestic terrorist accused of trying to blow up a state ferry.
Laughter rippled through the courtroom and Snohomish County Superior Court Judge David Kurtz couldn't stifle a smile. He overruled the objection, but the quick-thinking Dickson appeared to have impressed the judge.
Dickson, 15, was part of a team from the Stillaguamish Valley School that recently participated in the county's Mock Trial Competition. In all, seven teams battled it out in courtrooms at Denney Juvenile Justice Center in Everett over three days to determine which teams would move on to the state competition next month in Olympia. The trial competition is sponsored by the YMCA Youth and Government Program.
Last fall, teams from around the state were given a fictional criminal case to study, including witness statements, photographs and pre-trial motions to argue. The case leveled charges against a man tied to a militia movement. He was accused of plotting to detonate a bomb on a Washington state ferry loaded with U.S. Navy sailors.
Students took on the roles of prosecutors, defense attorneys and witnesses. They argued the cases and testified in front of seated judges. Their performances were graded and critiqued by local attorneys.
"It's so nice to see kids engaged in something positive," Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese said. "They learn a lot about the courts and they take the competition very seriously."
Three teams competed from Archbishop Murphy High School in Everett. One team came from Jackson High School in Mill Creek. Two teams from King's High School in Shoreline competed. The Stillaguamish Valley School, part of the Arlington School District, serves home-schooled students.
This was the third year the Stillaguamish Valley School sent a team.
"I'm really into drama and this is a nerdy way to be into drama," 16-year-old Liz Finch said before Saturday's competition.
Her involvement in the class also has inspired her to pursue a law degree, she said.
"One day I'd love to be able to argue a case to a jury," Finch said.
The teenager said it can be a bit unnerving to perform in front of a judge and attorneys, but it also motivated her to be prepared and strive to stay in character.
Students really learn to think on their feet, said Michelle Marange, the coach for the Stillaguamish Valley School's team.
Saturday afternoon, Finch and Dickson faced off against three defense attorneys from Archbishop Murphy High School's junior varsity team.
Hannah Volsky, Tara Darrow and Ria Hoffman argued that their client was framed by an overly ambitious FBI agent and a government informant who'd been promised money and a job for his testimony.
The lawyers hurled objections back and forth, rattling off evidence rules to support their positions. Dickson at one point found himself up against the clock and pushed his witness to answer quickly in hopes of getting in the evidence he wanted to support the prosecution's case.
"They have improved so much," Marange said during a quick recess.
In the end, Archbishop Murphy's junior varsity team won the trial.*
Finch was named best attorney of the competition, sharing the title with Marcella Carey from Archbishop Murphy and Madison Shinn from King's. Jackie Becker from Jackson was named the best witness.
King's won first in the competition, followed by Archbishop Murphy's varsity team. Jackson's team came in third. All three teams will have the chance to show off their trial skills at the state competition next month.
Walt Potebnya is a private attorney who practices in Snohomish County and volunteered as an adviser for the Stillaguamish Valley School team. He was in the front row Saturday as the teens battled it out.
"It's really satisfying to see the kids blossom," he said. "I don't know if I could have done this at their age."
Dode brought the younger children down to watch the trial for a while. Miriam and William were pretty bored but Elizabeth thought it was amazing so when Dode brought the younger children home, she decided to stay with me for the rest of the day. She loved listening to the testimony and trying to decide if the defendant was truly guilty. When she heard that there was no "correct" answer, she was pretty upset.
After Isaac's trial was finished, we had just 30 minutes to find some lunch in Everett before Anastaya's trial was set to begin. I had to bring back lunch for Anastaya and I was worried I wouldn't get back in time. Thankfully, the teams who were using the courtroom her trial was in ran late so she had time to quickly eat a sandwich before she was on. She played the part of TJ Jones, a member of the sovereign citizen movement, high school drop out, dishonorably discharged vet, bomb making expert. Her character had a lot of potentially damaging character traits but she was able to pull it off with the right amount of attitude. She kind of played it like, "Yes, I lied to get into the military, what's your point?!" TJ's brother was on trial for attempting to blow up a ferry boat.
outside the courtroom
At the prosecution desk Saturday morning. The colors for the day were dark blue, black and white. If you look at the photo from the newspaper, you'll see I matched too. I'm that kind of dorky mom!
Anastaya testifying as TJ Jones.
The way the competition works, it doesn't matter who wins the verdict. Each part of the team gets points for everything they do. The points get added up on both sides and whoever has the most points wins the match. I don't know how the points ended up (we didn't place in the top 4 teams) but we did win the verdict for each of our four trials (two convictions, two acquittals). So, the students were great with presenting their arguments and questioning the witnesses.
Waiting for the final results. See that smile? Only for the camera! I heard a LOT of complaining as we waited 45 minutes to hear who'd won.
Both Anastaya and Isaac plan to be on the team next year. Anastaya did a lot of complaining about mock trial in the months leading up to competition, "It's boring! Do I have to go? We never do anything!" But, all that tedious work allowed them to have a successful competition. On the way home she said, "That was fun! I love competing but I hate all the work ahead of time." Anastaya thinks she might like to try being an attorney. I think she could do well if she could keep from giggling.
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