Mock Trial students ‘really show their grit’
ULLEM LAKE >> “I really like arguing and figured out a way to do it in the class. I learned about it (Mock Trial class) in eight grade and when I went to high school I took the class,” said Diana Mendoza, 17, a junior who has now taken the Upper Lake High School mock trial class for three years.
According to the Constitutional Rights Foundation, In 1980, the organization introduced the Mock Trial program which already had a strong following in Los Angeles County, to all the counties in California. Their website noted that the program was created to help students acquire a working knowledge of our judicial system, develop analytical abilities and communication skills, and gain an understanding of their obligations and responsibilities as participating members of our society. The program currently involves 36 California counties. Each year, CRF creates and produces a new set of Mock Trial materials based on an important issue facing America’s youth. The materials include a hypothetical criminal case (including summaries of case law, witness statements, official exhibits, and simplified rules of evidence); lesson plans on the central issues in the case; and competition rules and guidelines.”
Alex Stabiner, the UPLHS Mock Trial coach said, “This is my seventh year teaching Mock Trial coaching and the first time moving on to the state competition. This quickly became one of my favorite classes to teach and teams to coach. I’ve been coaching football for about 25 years and Mock Trial is definitely another passion that I have grown to love.”
Stabiner gave background on how mock trial works. “Each year the Constitutional Rights Foundation puts out a curriculum concerning a mock case. The year’s case is “People v. Croddy”. The defendant, Lee Croddy, is being charged with Burglary, Aiding and Abetting, and Accessory After the Fact. The curriculum contains witness statements from eight different characters that make up the bulk of the evidence that will be used in a pretend trial, a mock trial that takes the form of a bench trial. One of the witness statements is from Lee Croddy (the defendant), another from the arresting officer Max Byrd, an expert witness specializing on the phenomenon of “group think”, as well as others. There are also a few photographs of physical evidence. The charges are laid out, the evidence comes in the form of a packet, and the students need to take on roles for the trial. Students will take on the roles of witnesses, attorneys, bailiff, and clerk. Following the rules of evidence, the mock trial is then conducted. The way it rolls out is sort of like a play in a theatre, but then having to improvise given how an opposing team presents the case, the rules of evidence and judge. Issues of building proper foundation, hearsay, and other rules of the court need to be followed.”
“What makes this so interesting,” said Stabiner, “is the competition between other schools. Our own defense and prosecution teams often spar with one another in class. Each side quickly learns the strategies of the other and the team adapts to combat each other. Where things start to get spicy is when our defense team competes against another school’s prosecution team and vice versa. Just a couple of weeks ago we scrimmaged the Justin Siena High School, a private school in the Napa area. It wasn’t known what strategies would be brought forward from JSHS or how the opposing attorneys will cross examine our witnesses at ULHS. This is when listening, critical thinking, knowledge of the case, knowledge of the law, and thinking on one’s feet really shine.”
He added that competitions at the county and state level usually have real life judges presiding over the trials with real life attorneys scoring each individual student in their role. The team with the most amount of points wins the match. That said, a team could lose the verdict, but then have each team member score really well in their respective roles and win the match.
“We really didn’t know if we were going to be able to compete against other schools at the beginning of this year. We’ve been doing Mock Trial as a classroom endeavor for many years. So much of communication in mock trial was movement, projection, and nuanced body language.
Changing the entire platform of the class and competitions to video conferencing has not been easy to say the least. However, we kept on trying to make progress to learn the case. Then in January we found out that Upper Lake High School would be the team that would represent Lake County in the state competition.”
‘We were stoked’
According to Stabiner, this will be the first time that Upper Lake High School will be competing in the state competition March 18-21. The competition will take place in video conferencing over the fourday period. The competition has real life judges presiding over the trials with real life attorneys scoring each individual student in their role. The team with the most amount of points wins the match.
“That said, a team could lose the verdict, but then have each team member score really well in their roles and win the match,” Stabiner said.
Mendoza’s role this year is an attorney for pre-trial. “We have to fight to get evidence into the actual trial.” She said she will take the class again next year, her senior year. “I did want to be a lawyer in freshman and sophomore year, then I realized it’s a really a long schooling. Now I want to be a nurse practitioner.” As a third year ‘mocker’, Mendoza said about the first and second year mockers, “We just want to prepare them. It’s a really fun class, but you do have to do the work. The coach is super silly and when it comes down to work, he’s super serious.”
Regarding the state competition, Mendoza said, “We’re going to State on March 18-21 on our campus over Zoom. Sadly we don’t get to go down to Orange County. We’ll go to the trial via Zoom with the witnesses put into one room, attorneys into another room and Pretrial (one defense attorney, prosecution and a judge) put into another room.”
Jisel Horne, a senior and the captain of the team, spoke about her role in the class. “I’m a four year in mock trial for Upper Lake. I’m a defense attorney. I conduct the opening statement and a few direct examinations as well as cross examinations. Being in mock trial has taught me so much about the legal world and has opened my horizons of knowledge of this field. After graduation I’ll be attending Santa Monica College, on the pre-law track, so everything I’ve ever learned in mock trial will help me so much in college already. Being apart of the Upper Lake High Mock Trial team is something I’ll always be thankful for as well as the support from my coaches Mr. Stabnier, Ms. Sabalone, and Ms. Judy Conard.”
Anna Sabalone has been assistant coach “for as long as I can remember,” she said, “We want to provide a variety of opportunities to help prepare them for whatever direction the students want to take after high school. We try to make sure we maintain these programs which is definitely connected to our core values of supporting the whole child. The course challenges the students to read between the lines, think on their feet, know the material intrinsically and then apply in a arrange of possibilities. Just in like real life, you have to prepare to adapt.”
Sabalone said with a sense of pride in her voice, “Everything has been taken away from our kids due to COVID. They’re persevering through the programs that they’re still allowed to have and it really shows their grit.”