The mock trial team competed against West Valley Middle College for its first scrimmage on Jan. 12. The team has been preparing for competition season over the course of the year, creating both a prosecution and defense case for People v. Hayes, a case about the murder of a security guard.

The team is participating in a series of scrimmages against local schools in preparation for the Santa Clara County competition, which will start on Feb. 2.

“The team has been having a run-through at every practice,” said sophomore Stacey Chen, who plays the part of a witness. “We've practiced going over our lines and using objections.”

The team made many changes this year, thanks to the leadership of the head coach, former attorney  Mary McDonnell; in her second year of coaching, McDonnell has created an itinerary for practices so that they are more organized.

“This year, we [focused on] the use of emphasis on certain words, using a way of speaking that sounds more confident and that makes the team more confident overall,” said junior Jackie Han, who plays an attorney for the prosecution.

The team is more prepared for competition than in recent years, according to Han. She said that the case is much more interesting than those from previous years, which encourages the team to work harder than before.

“Saratoga still has a way to go in preparation, but we did significantly better than our opponent in the first scrimmage,” Han said. “Although they had some of their lines memorized already, I thought we had more confidence and presence and we also knew [our] objections much better.”

The Attorneys:

Prosecution: senior Karthik Padmanabhan (pretrial), juniors Jackie Han, Peter VandeVort and Rhea Srivats

Defense: junior Sarah Chang (pretrial), seniors Neeki Tahmassebi, Nina Harris and Gwynevere Hunger

The Witnesses:

Prosecution: freshmen Ashley Feng, Julia Deng, sophomores Michelle Vu, Stacey Chen, junior Isabelle Tseng

Defense: freshman Joan McCarthy, juniors Samantha Guidry, Sarah Chang, Cassi King