The Decision is In on Another Great Year for Mock Trial
The Team begins its first of many competitions
By: Seth Schwarz
The Doniphan-Trumbull Mock Trial team, consisting of 10 members, began their season on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at the Federal Building in Grand Island, competing against five teams.
Mock Trial Coach Mrs. Joy Utecht stated, “For our first competition I think they did well; they were well prepared. Our witnesses were excellent, and the attorneys did a good job at reacting.”
Mock Trial is different from other competitions, in that the team doesn’t learn how they placed until the end of the season. Based on how they do during the primary season from October through November, the team will compete in a minimum of two cases, but this year’s team qualified for a third. If the team continues to do well, they will be scheduled for more trials throughout the year.
Senior Attorney Kiera Gregg commented “We usually have a real attorney as a coach, but this year we didn’t get one. Considering this, I feel that the team did very well in preparing and competing”
The team has prepared for each individual case by reading what their case is and organizing their side of the argument. When they receive the case, they prepare the argument they believe will win the case, or what they believe the judge wants to hear. They highlight the information they decide to show and have their attorneys prepare questions for when they are the plaintiff or defendant.
Two of the main roles that the team has are Attorneys and Witnesses. The attorneys, consisting of Gregg, Bryson Rader, and Harrison Sjuts are the main people who evaluate the case while preparing their argument. They will also question each witness.
“I direct exam my team's witnesses and cross-examine the other team's witnesses during the trial” Gregg stated
The witnesses provide testimony about people, events, and important documents in the case, so each team can continue to argue the case. Witnesses have to memorize the details of their ‘characters’ to answer the questions truthfully. After they do the preliminary work, The team will practice the full trial with Utechet asking them questions while they have to answer.
“Depending on what side of the case we are, different witnesses will testify, or else we will sit there and listen to our character for the other side and we will take notes on what they say, do, and the questions asked,” said Avery Robb.
After performing well in their first two meets, the team sadly lost to Kearney High in the third round, ending their season.
“The season went really well. The case was about a caretaker who was trying to take advantage of his elderly patient, so deciding how we were going to argue the case was challenging. Going into our first trial, we were still a bit unsure, but after that initial experience, we really came together as a group and had a better understanding of what we needed to do,” said Rader.