Mock trial has no objections to a successful season

After practicing since October, the mock trial team finished its competition season on Feb. 19 with a record of 2-2.

“Overall, I think our season was very successful,” said sophomore Max Chang, who played the role of pretrial attorney in the competition that pits high school teams against each other in a real courtroom. “We learned from our mistakes and stayed positive and encouraging.”

The trials were presided over by real judges at the Downtown San Jose Superior Courthouse and scored by attorneys. The prosecution team beat Cupertino High School (211-176) and lost to Willow Glen High School (205-243), while the defense team won against Leigh High School (204-193) and lost to St. Francis High School (204-205). With this record, the team failed to make the quarterfinal round of the competition that was eventually won by Willow Glen.

Longtime coach Dr. Hugh Roberts called this year’s performance “schizophrenic,” adding, “[We had] a few talented, experienced students mixed with very talented freshmen with no experience.”

The 16-student team welcomed many new members this year and a new coach, social studies teacher Jim Chin. The final roster went through multiple alterations up until a month before competitions started.

“I was switched between four different roles,” freshman witness Nithika Arunkumar said. “The difficulty of [having so many positions] just makes you want to do better and better.”
This motivation to perform better is what junior Casey Takahashi enjoys the most about mock trial.

“I’m really proud of everyone for committing and putting in so much effort and it paid off,” Takahashi said.

Roberts agreed and dismissed “the occasional low point” as a part of “the learning curve.”

“Three particular high points were the growth over the years of Jennie Werner as a witness, and both [seniors] Rohan Cotah and Ashwini Velchamy as attorneys,” Roberts said. He also remembered Chang’s embarrassment, after his pretrial, at the flow of compliments from a judge.

Although Roberts has enjoyed working with mock trial since his retirement in 1989, he said that next year he “will be in the wings to give occasional support to whomever takes over the program, and will miss it very much.”

Looking forward to the next year, the team will be losing two seniors, but will have several returning members.

Chang said that as the team members form a very “determined group,” they are only going to get better as long as they stay motivated.

“The first year is definitely the hardest for people,” Takahashi said, “but next year it will be the second or third year for many members, and the team will progress more quickly. I’m going to keep my fingers crossed for quarter and semi-finals!”