Mock Trial team reaches new heights

On Nov. 10, the scores for the Constitutional Rights Foundation’s Mock Trial competition’s first round were released. After 17 years of nonstop competitions, Clark’s Mock Trial team has moved on to the next level for the first time.

Clark’s “Yellow” team — one of three teams named with the colors Green, Yellow, and White — accumulated enough points to move on.

And yet most members say they are not nervous about the upcoming competition on Nov. 16. “We will do great because of our group coordination,” said Yellow team witness, freshman Leslie Chung. “Our witnesses and lawyers get alongs very well and the witnesses always get to the point.”

“There’s no time to be nervous,” said Green team lawyer, senior Robert Herrin. “We will face a challenging match, but we have great group effort and dramatic flair, necessary to win over the judges.” This self assurance is further backed by the club President, senior Henry Gurgenyan who said, “In my professional opinion, our team will win.”

But to get this far, the teams had to go through two trials. The fictional case revolved around a Jamie Hayes, a college student who murdered a security guard with a bat. Defense team argued for a non-guilty verdict, saying that Hayes killed a man in order to defend his classmate who was getting attacked by the victim. The prosecution’s case revolved around Hayes being guilty of committing the cold blooded murder of an officer doing his job.

The teams consist of four lawyers as well as four witnesses each portraying one of the eight provided witnesses. Each team is also divided into defense and prosecution sub-teams, with each sub-team going on a separate competition on a separate day. Altogether the team makes up 60 individuals.

Nov. 2 was the first Round of the competitions. A subteam from each team gathered in the hallways of the downtown Los Angeles County Courthouse nervously studying their lines and practicing. One such nervous student was junior Marah Hasan.

Hasan was clutching her papers, nervously going over her questions. “At first I was very intimidated and worried about having to present in front of a courtroom full of professional people,” Hasan said. Time came for the trial to begin, and the courtroom door opened as Hasan and her team, code named Team Yellow, entered the room.

“However the room was very small,” Hasan said. “This made me feel much more relaxed, along with how respectful and nice the audience was.” Thus began the first round of the 2015 Mock Trial Competitions, held on Monday, Nov. 2.

The trial went on for about two hours as questions were asked, objections were presented and judgments were made. “I felt nervous during the trial,” said freshman Isabella Ersoz. “But I also had a sense of confidence because of how well I knew my material.

After the first round ended the teams gave a sigh of relief. “It was really nerve racking and long,” Ersoz said. “I was paying attention to every detail in the court and trying to read the judge’s face to guess her opinion.”

A week after this, on Nov. 9, the second part of each team went for the second round of the competition. After another intense competition behind the closed doors of the courtroom, the teams were tired, yet still assured in their skill. “The trial went better than expected,” Herrin said. “I can proudly say that we practically slaughtered the competition.”

After the first trial, Green Defense team earned their wanted non-guilty verdict, while teams Yellow and White couldn’t push for the verdict they wanted. For the second trial, once again Green Prosecution earned a guilty verdict.

However, the true winners aren’t decided by the verdict earned. What does matter is the score given by attorney scorers. Due to this, teams Green and White ended up not moving on in the competition to the Top 16. However, team Yellow moved forward in the competition onto Level 2.