In person again, Mock Trial club sees increased participation

The Mock Trial team competed in person again this year after spending the past three seasons online.

Out of the four competitions in the Santa Clara County tournament that the club attended this season — two for Saratoga High’s prosecution team and two for the defense — the Falcons secured one win for the defense. 

According to junior club president Ryan Heshmati, while the season didn’t come with many wins, this year marked a fresh start for the team because they weren’t online anymore. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Mock Trial competitions were held online over Zoom.

Membership for the Mock Trial club also rebounded. The club, which is led by Heshmati, junior vice-president Aarushi Sharma, junior treasurer Diya Kapoor and junior secretary Caitlin Stoiber, had a total of 25 members this year, 17 of whom were entirely new.

The team also welcomed a new attorney coach, Christopher Van Meir. A deputy public defender with over 17 years of experience, Van Meir decided to help the rising generation of aspiring lawyers by coaching the school’s Mock Trial team. 

As the team struggled to adjust to in-person competition, Heshmati emphasized that Van Meir’s experience helped them learn and grow as a team. The team is advised by assistant principal Matt Torrens.

“Since nobody on the team had in person experience, we were in it together,” Heshmati said. “What really enabled us [to succeed] was that we got a great public defender [as our coach]. [He] really helped us understand the necessary adjustments for in person competition.”

Club practices ran every Tuesday from 6:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Under Van Meir’s guidance, the team worked to break down the case packet — the main source of information pertaining to this year’s fictional court case. 

This year’s court trial was called People vs. Clark. In this fictional case, the defendant, Tobie Clark, is on trial for the first-degree murder of Kieran Sunshine, the CEO of a prosthetic limb company. 

In order to enact Tobie Clark’s trial, students in the club were split into two groups: the prosecution, led by Sharma and Kapoor, and defense, led by Stoiber and Heshmati. The prosecution created a case against Clark, while defense created a case supporting Clark.

Each member was also assigned a specific role (attorney, witness, pretrial, clerk, bailiff or understudy). During a typical practice, attorneys met with their witnesses and crafted a line of questioning for the witness. Afterwards, prosecution and defense competed against one another for a full trial round.

Tryouts for the club were held in September, where interested students played the role of an attorney or a witness through a simulation of a previous year’s case. Many who joined said that they were interested in exercising their public speaking skills.

“[Mock Trial] is a really good opportunity to develop skills like public speaking, acting and thinking on your feet,” said freshman Dyuthi Boinepalli, an attorney on defense. “It’s also a great introduction into law.” 

While many members joined for fun or to experience a real-life court setting, others joined because Mock Trial aligns with their aspirations after high school.

“I absolutely want to become an attorney,” Heshmati said. “The real value we’re able to bring with Mock Trial is that you’re able to immerse yourself in the legal process. One of the reasons why I was excited to come to high school were the clubs like Mock Trial.”

Prosecution  

For SHS’s prosecution, scoring points and securing wins at tournaments has been an uphill battle. The prosecution attended their first competition against Los Altos High at the Santa Clara County Office of Education on Jan. 22. The judges scored in favor of Los Altos and failed to find Clark guilty.

“[Los Altos] knew all the blind spots of each witness, and they attacked those,” Kapoor said.

SHS’s prosecution saw greater success during their second competition against Leigh High on Jan. 30, where they won the ruling from the judge. However, they failed to win overall since they received a lower point total from the scorers.

Courtesy of Matt Torrens

The prosecution standing in the Santa Clara County Office of Education after competing against Leigh. 

Defense

SHS’s defense, on the other hand, had their first tournament of the season against Lynbrook on Jan. 24, which they won due to the Lynbrook prosecution team forfeiting as a no-show.

However, during their second competition against Lynbrook on Feb. 1, they were unable to pull another win. Despite receiving multiple scores of 9 and 10 out of 10 total points for witnesses and attorneys, the team was unable to advance to the next round on either side. 

Due to Lynbrook Mock Trial’s position as a historically successful program — they were a Santa Clara Mock Trial finalist in 2023 — Heshmati was impressed with the defense team’s “huge” performance.

Boinepalli also said members of the team were able to learn from the strength and candor of Lynbrook High’s witnesses’ performance as it was the determining factor behind their victory.

“It was definitely challenging,” she said. “We gave it our all and I’m happy with the result because I know we all tried our best.”

Courtesy of Matt Torrens

The defense team gathered together after a victory in their first round on Feb. 1.

Despite their lackluster results this year, many members are still impressed by their performance this season and remain hopeful for the coming years.

Sharma said she noticed the team definitely improved compared to the previous year in terms of scores. She watched members grow more confident and willing to make more objections and think on their feet. 

Likewise, Heshmati felt that the team’s season was a resounding success despite their low ranking.  

“Ultimately, some might get fixated on the scores but having competed for three years I have learned those are somewhat arbitrary and not worth getting hung up on,” he said. “The season was excellent, in terms of our growth as a team under the fantastic leadership of our attorney coach Mr. Van Meir. He took a group with zero in person experience and prepared us well for the transition.”