The mock trial team lost. Actually, both teams lost, both prosecution and defense. I consoled myself with the fact that I only coached them for two weeks, and so it was the other guys' fault. They did not have a coherent theory of the case and he was making them do opening and closing arguments. So I got them to work out a coherent theory of the case but they just spent time doing hairdos and such. I think I helped them a lot but not enough. Not enough time.
There were two boys helping out who had done the mock trial a year or two ago, and they were very serious about it. These kids did not take it seriously at all. Like I told the coroner to bring the skeleton from the chemistry lab or at least make a poster so she could do demonstrative evidence, or at the very least do a drawing on the white board in the court to show the bullet trajectories. The prosecution tried to show that the bullets were five seconds apart, but the weakness is that people don't usually stand up for five seconds when they are hit with a bullet in the chest. But the facts are consistent with the victim being shot while she falls down, if you work out the trajectory. Anyway, they didn't listen, and the defense attorney made mincemeat of the coroner.
Actually I think having the two guys who had done it before there all the time was a bad idea, since all the kids were girls except for Ben and one of the lawyers. So these older guys sort of dominated them.
Well, anyway, it was a learning experience. They can appeal if they want to, and I offered to help them with their briefs. |
