After scoring in the top 10 during the first mock trial competition on Friday, Jan. 29, the Kingswood Oxford team did not move on after their most recent competition on Friday, Feb. 26.
Every year in September, the team is assigned a case that they have to study. This year’s topic was a murder case in which a young man was accused of beating a woman over the head with a hockey stick after she refused to further their romance.
To prepare for the competition, the Mock Trial team frequently met to learn the case and rehearse. “We came in on asynchronous Wednesdays and on the weekends we came in, in-person to sort of do it in person and figure it out,” senior Captain and defense lawyer Risha Ranjan said. All their practice allowed the team to be prepared and confident when the day of the competition came around.
Each mock trial team, including KO’s, has a prosecution side and a defense side. For the Jan. 29 competition, KO’s defense went against Wilton High School’s prosecution and KO’s prosecution faced off with Staples High School’s defense. KO’s prosecution team consisted of lawyers including senior Braeden Rose, junior David Shi, and junior Patrick Schwab, along with witnesses including junior Caroline Boardman, sophomore Manu Narasimhan, and freshman Jaden Smith. The defense side was made up of lawyers including seniors Caitlin Budzik and Risha Ranjan, in addition to witnesses including freshman Charles Simons, sophomore Jordan DiMauro, senior Kyle Frankel, and junior William Wells.
Usually, a mock trial competition is held in a courthouse in either Hartford or Middletown, but due to COVID-19, the competitions this year are being held virtually. Most teams were not physically together for the competition, but since KO is in person, the team gathered in Tomasso Hall for the day so they could have room to spread out and project the competition on the large screen. “[Being together] was for the best because we were able to talk to each other and be near each other, and get to experience that together,” Risha said.
Even with differences in the competition brought on by COVID-19, the team still excelled in the competition. Each side is awarded three “best” witnesses and lawyers out of the 12 participating. On the defense side, the best lawyers were Caitlin and Risha with William as the best witness. For the prosection, the best lawyers included Patrick and Braeden with Caroline and Jaden as best witnesses.
“I was especially proud of Risha since she has only been a witness before,and of Jaden, since he has only been a lawyer before,” faculty advisor Lynne Levine said. At the end of the competition, KO’s team won with the defense prevailing over Wilton High School by six points and the prosecution triumphing over Staples High School by nine points. “I feel like we had a good start,” Mrs. Levine said.
For the Feb. 26 competition, KO did not garner enough points to move on to the next round, but they were designated an Honorable Mention team. The KO team also had two individual winners, which meant that the student was named as top in that category in each trial in which they appeared. Pat was named Best Lawyer, and Caroline was named Best Witness.
