On January 9, the mock trial team competed in their first trial against Urbana High School. The mock trial team pulled off a close win with one point to earn the victory.

Simplified, the case is about a car accident. This case features Avery Chris Slater, the plaintiff versus Kelly Kapowski, the defendant. After an argument with their partner, Avery Chris Slater (A.C Slater) left Max’s Diner and drove onto Max Point Road to then approach the intersection of Max Point Road and Route 50. A.C. Slater went through a yellow light and was turning onto Route 50 West when they were struck by the defendant Kelly Kapowski.

Slater is suing Kapowski because he/she ran a red light, and he/she was using her cell phone while driving. Kapowski is trying to prove she is not liable, and that he/she had a green light and their version is that Slater ran a red light out of anger and was speeding and not wearing a seatbelt. Each team is trying to prove who is at fault.

The Mock trial team is made up of two sides; one side is the defense and the other is represents the plaintiff. Each side is made up of 6 people; 3 attorneys and 3 witnesses. The 3 attorneys on the defense team are Garrett Gillespie, Abbey Hrabowski, and Alison Sniffen. The 3 witnesses are Sarah Brady who plays Kelly Kapowski; the defendant, Julia Lizmi who plays Officer Belding the responding officer; and, finally Jack Adams who is Zach Morris, a witness who was in the car next to Kapowski’s and had to swerve to get out of the way of Slater.

This first trail was against the Urbana Plaintiff team.

Before the team even reached the courthouse it was already hectic. The bus which was coming from Middletown was a half an hour late. The courthouse has a strict rule of closing at 5:00 p.m.; mock trials occur after courthouse hours. If the team arrived at 5:01, they could not get in. Luckily, they got there 10 minutes to spare. 

“ I am very nervous because it’s my first trial, but I’m also excited,”said Abbey Hrabowski, said Abbey, just before the trial started.

As opening arguments were delivered, it was obvious that this trial would be tough. The outstanding opening statement was carried out by Alison Sniffen.

Garrett Gillespie showed some great dedication flying back from the Atlanta College national championship in the early morning just to come to the trial. Hrabowski was  on fire with objections, taking out lines of questioning from the opposing attorney.

The next witness was Sam Powers a passenger in Kelly Kapowski’s car. Hrabowski knew what she needed this witness to say to help the team’s case and had a very strong cross of Sam Powers. During a cross examination, Gillespie was against a witness who was strong but confused some of the numbers. Gillespie continued and got her to confuse the math that she calculated to show stopping distances. 

The judge in the the ruling of the case said that “this was a very hard decision” and that “both parties were at fault” but she ruled in favor of the Plaintiff/Urbana. However, this does not mean the Urbana won. Winning is determined on a score from a 1-5 scale for the direct examination, cross examination performances for both lawyers and witnesses, and opening and closing statements for the lawyers.

Each side can earn up to a total of 55 points, 56 including the tie breaking point given by the judge to the team that he or she thought did better with objections, decorum, and performance. So with this, the Linganore Mock Trial team pulled through with a close win 31-30.

The Mock trial team last year went to the regional championship for the first time in school history. The team is looking even stronger this year with a strong chance of winning this year’s regional championship.

The next Mock trial performance will be on Wednesday January 24. See Mrs. Peterson or Mrs. Hendi if you are interested in attending the event.