With veiled “Game of Thrones” references and quirky characters, the 2016-17 California Mock Trial case packet brings a fresh conflict to the table for high school mock trial members in the upcoming season.
“I dismissed it at first, thinking it was just a fluke,” senior prosecution co-captain Peter VandeVort said. “When I saw the name ‘Greyjoy’ as the prosecution's human trafficking expert, I vividly remember slapping the table in front of me and shouting ‘YES!’”
The case packet, released on Sept. 8, deals with the issue of human trafficking, as the prosecution tries to prove that the defendant, Cameron Awbrey, is guilty of human trafficking and false imprisonment. The case topic has not been covered in the last few years and reflects the growing awareness of human trafficking in the U.S.
“The case theme alternates from murder to theft or a different type of crime,” senior defense co-captain Jackie Han said. “For murder cases, we argue a lot about emotion and motive to kill someone, but this year it is more about evidence and the facts.”
In the Mock Trial members form prosecution and defense teams that compete against teams from other schools in a simulation of a real trial. During the trial, attorneys present the case to appeal to the jury for their side, and witnesses corroborate their attorneys’ statements with testimonial evidence.
The informational meeting for auditionees was held on Oct. 5 during lunch, and auditions for roles on the team were released on Oct. 11.
Those who auditioned were assigned a witness to research and placed into groups of three by the three co-captains — Han, Vandevort, and senior Isabelle Tseng. These groups had a short period of time to try out all three roles — prosecution lawyer, defense lawyer and witness — so that the captains could see which role fits each person the best.
Last year’s team came just short of making it to the quarterfinals in the Santa Clara County competition, placing one away from the cutoff at 11th place. VandeVort and Han voiced hopes for the team to make the cut this year — the first time in four years if they succeed.
With the first scrimmage planned to take place in January, VandeVort noted that the captains aim to improve communication between the prosecution and defense teams this year as well as to spend more time perfecting individual witness accounts in order to “holistically improve the team” for this year’s season.
“This year we really want to focus on witnesses, since we didn't have much emphasis on it last year,” Han said. “Our goal for the year is to have more emphasis on objections, since we were so close to semifinals last year.”