Roman Catholic High School won the annual John S. Bradway City-wide High School Mock Trial Championship Saturday, March 15 over Girard College that was held in the Beasley School of Law. The championship showcased both sides exhibiting their knowledge of law and the U.S. justice system.
“We worked pretty hard these last two weeks to get ready for this trial and I think we executed pretty well,” said Andrew DiCicco of Roman Catholic, who was voted as the best advocate for his team. “I went a little bit off topic on my cross [examination] of the witnesses because of the time constraints, so I was only able to hit one of the points I wanted to make.”
On the other side Brandon Dixon of Girard College was disappointed, but not distraught.
“Our causes were a little bit weak, and we did not adapt to what the witnesses were saying like we usually do,” said Dixon who was named the best advocate of his team. “I really thought we were going to win, but I am glad since we are all rookies, we made it this far.”
The fictitious case presented described a 2013 civil-suit of a man called Jordan Simon. Simon was a track star that had a promising future with the imagined Ruffed Grouse High School. Simon was found dead in May with high levels of erythropoietin. Erythropoietin is a drug that can be used to help improve endurance in races. The blame for Simon’s death was then up for debate between the school or Simon’s dad, Kelly Simon, who was also a former track star. The school could be blamed for their negligence of Simon’s drug symptoms or Kelly for doing the same and pushing Simon too hard.
The Roman Catholic team played the part of the prosecution, Kelly Simon, and the Girard College team served as the defense.
The scoring of the case was by 12 judges who graded the students on nine categories on a one to five scale. Some of the categories were the opening statements, direct examinations and cross examinations. These categories are based on clear and persuasive arguments and the time constraints given.
At the opening of the case, the prosecution came out with an argument that threw the defense off guard.
“We change our opening for every case, but the prosecution revealed some things I never heard before,” Dixon said.
Things continued to get away from the defense when the prosecution called their first witness. During the questioning of the witness, the defense objected two times out of apparent desperation and got overruled.
The defense got back on track when Girard College’s Anya Johnson cross examined the prosecution’s second witness. The questions that Johnson asked the witness were ones that made the witness seem to get on they’re heels.
By calling the witness playing the imaginary track coach to the stand, the defense continued to be aggressive. The prosecution countered with a good cross examination of the coach.
The closing statements of the two sides were both convincing, but the one delivered by the prosecution seemed better spoken.
The competition began back in January with 36 teams. After five rounds of competition the final two competed Saturday.
The case studies were written by Paul Kaufman, Jonathan D. Koltash and Jonathan Grode, the latter being a former valedictorian of Temple. Grode has been writing the case studies since 2007 and was presiding as the judge for the trial.
“I was thoroughly impressed,” Grode said. “Frankly I found today’s proceedings almost too difficult to call a winner. Regardless, both teams succeeded.”
Stephen Godwin Jr. can be reached at stephen.godwin@temple.edu.
