The case is out, and the Mock Trial team is doing their very best to commit it to memory before scrimmage season starts. At their meeting on November 20th, I interviewed two of the team captains, Gavin Warnakulasooriya and Emelia Chambers (who are both seniors this year), about the case and their takes on mock trial.

My first question was on the topic of when they started doing mock trial, or when they joined the team. They both said that they joined the team in their freshman year, with Gavin even stating that he joined the team because of his older sister, who was a junior at the time. They have both stuck with it since then. Emelia noted she was glad she joined the team in freshman year, stating that, “mock trial is one one of the bigger parts of my life” and that “every single person on this team I can consider one of my good friends…” It was evident even just by attending one of the meetings that the team has really good chemistry this year.

I then asked the captains about what the basics of mock trial were. “The basic idea,” Gavin explained, “is you have a case that you get, just has all these facts about some crime or civil lawsuit between two parties, and you just read up on that…” Emelia explained the setup of the courtroom, saying that there are, “six witnesses, three for each side,” and “twelve attorneys, three crosses, three directs for each side.” Both captains touched on the way that mock members - both witnesses and attorneys have to memorize their cases “as well as the back of [their] hand”. Emelia summed it up very well, telling me that, “people call it competitive theater”.

The conversation then turned to the case for this year. “It’s a murder case with an almond allergy. It’s kind of an odd theme, but I think it’s pretty cool” Gavin explained. When asked about her thoughts, Emelia said that, “for a murder case, it’s pretty interesting. I think it’s really cool that we are doing a case about a poisoning based on a TV show that was doing a poisoning.” On the technical side of things, Gavin noted that, “There’s definitely a lot of facts, unique pieces of evidence, weird ways to get them in, interesting case law and all that stuff.” Emelia, who is a witness this year, boldly stated that she didn’t like her affidavit, noting how the case “is mainly ChatGPT or something like that, which I don’t like.”

Every case has their tough portions, and when asked about those spots for this year’s case, Gavin said that, “there are a lot of weird charges with first degree murder” and “a lot of nuances there as to what you can and can’t use to prove these charges.” He also touched on how “a lot of the evidence is all hearsay, or a lot of it is.” for those who do not know what hearsay is it is information received from other people that one cannot adequately be proven which is basically a fancy way of saying a rumor Emelia had another point she wanted to add to touch on as well, She said that, “there’s so many documents, so everyone’s gotta know how to put a document in.” Emelia plays the defendant, Raysau, in this year’s case, and told me that her affidavit “doesn’t give a lot of information” and how “it’s gonna be really hard creating a Raysau character just by having a lot of my information from other affidavits”. She was also concerned about adding the human element to the story being told in this case, since she thought that the trial wasn’t as “humanistic”.

The captains, when I asked if they wanted to add anything, urged underclassmen to join mock trial. They praised the atmosphere, and the sense of community they were a part of after joining. Emelia said that, “for anyone who’s hesitant, yes, it is a lot of work“ but told me that it was absolutely worth it.

I can’t wait to follow the mock team this year, and watch their progress to the finals. Expect lots more updates, but until then this is Katie Mullen, signing off!!