Whether what they said was true or not didn’t matter — all that mattered was if it could make the group trust them.
On Oct. 9, CHS Mock Trial had their first meeting, kicking off with introductions and a convincing fact, true or not. Attended by new and returning students alike, everyone was excited to meet new teammates and have a new fresh start.
Autumn Salisbury, a CHS junior and first-time member, was very excited after experiencing a pinch of Mock Trial culture.
“I’ve wanted to join all three years that I’ve been here, but the timing just never worked out,” Salisbury said. “I was thrilled when I could attend this year and I was really energized by the meeting.”
The meeting ran through the confusing and complex terms and layout of trial procedures, which includes an opening statement, presentation of the plaintiff’s evidence, the defendant’s evidence and a closing statement. The returning students put on a demonstration of a direct: an initial questioning of a witness to introduce the character by the party who called them to the stand, and a cross: the act of the opposing party questioning the same witness, to try to get supporting evidence.
Afterwards, the team broke up into three groups to chat and ask questions, as well as being tasked with the objective of creating their own mini-direct and cross-examination about an injustice they’ve faced.
For many returning members, such as and Charlotte Rotenburg, the new year meant a new case, meaning a whole new set of materials to work with.
“Last year’s case was a pretty silly one. I personally played a flight expert,” Rotenburg said. “I’m excited because this year there will be a criminal case, which means there’s going to be murder or arson or something dangerous, something freaky. It’s gonna be way better than last year.”
The previous case was a civil case, which generally involves disputes between individuals and organizations. Civil cases tend to be more difficult to argue out, because of how opinionated they are.
“A lot of the time it’s like, ‘You hurt my feelings, so I’m suing you.’ You try your best to argue through it but it feels really redundant doing so,” Rotenburg said.
As for Claire Thesis, she had similar feelings about the last case.
“I thought the case was kind of low key, poorly written. Actually, not low key, kind of high key, really bad,” Thesis said. “I played Sandy Boone. He was an old guy, he loved his guns, so I had fun because I got to play a silly guy, but I could tell that the lawyers did not enjoy it very much.”
The meeting wrapped up with performances which were fun and provided a good introduction to how a part of a court case would work, with one of them being about how a student had gotten told off while trying to take a photo on a stranger’s “beautiful red convertible” in a Kroger parking lot, which ruined their trip to the supermarket.
This year’s case officially drops on Oct. 15, at 3:15 p.m., and members of the team have planned to meet up to watch the reveal together, which is being hosted on Zoom.
