The Wenatchee and WestSide High School Inaugural Mock Trial Team placed second at the Regional Mock Trial competition with a performance that left them only 30 points shy of the number-one spot.

Their aptitude for law “compared favorably to undergraduate and law school students that [the Judges] had seen performed,” said Frank Brandt, one of the coaches for the team, and qualified them for the State Mock Trial competition held in Olympia, March 27-28.

The students worked two days a week to prepare for the event. Monday mornings and Sundays were dedicated to refining and studying the legal process. Along with the hard work as the students put in, the parent volunteers were a huge part of their success. “We could not have done it without the parents,” junior Christian Brandt-Sims, a defense attorney and a prosecution attorney for the team, said.

The parents, including practicing attorneys and Chelan County Superior Court Judge Lesley Allen, scheduled courthouses whenever possible so that the students would have a good environment to perform their Mock Trials in, as well as guiding the students through the case and the legal process to give them the best chance at competition. It also provided them with a comprehensive knowledge of the legal system.

The competition the students prepared for consisted of three trials, with the prosecution presenting twice and the defense performing once. The trial is designed to be as close to the legal process as possible, starting with a pre-trial motion where the legal teams argue the merits of letting a witness with social anxiety disorder be allowed to keep his dog with him.

Then, the trial progresses to the opening statement, “a preview of what the witnesses will present,” said Sebastion Pasion, a freshman and attorney. “It was funny to hear how the differing opening statements,” he said. The prosecution made sure to make the court think the defendant was a “vicious criminal,” while the defense “called him a hero.”

After the opening statements concluded, the trial advances to questioning and cross-examining witnesses, followed by the closing statement with wraps up what all the witnesses have already said. A verdict is declared, but that doesn’t decide the winner of the competition. Instead, the performers are judged on their performance skills. “You can have a foolproof case and still lose if you don’t have presentation,” Pasion said.

To prepare for the upcoming State competition, the students will be kicking their preparation into high gear to “focus on the witnesses acting personas. We want them to be more dramatic,” Pasion said. They will also focus on “refining the process” and “the little things,” according to Vivian Noyd, sophomore and lead prosecutor for the team. “We learned a lot from Regionals.”

The attorney team also includes senior Teresa Bendito. The witnesses are WSHS senior Chad Cummings, and WHS senior Devyn Redick, juniors Arturo Diaz, Camille George, Ethan Toth, Bella Dahl, Julia Jobe and freshman Chapman Canlis.

This program has had a definite impact on the student’s lives.

“I look at things in a different way. And I carry that over to my life to be a more analytical person,” Brandt-Sims said.

“It really opened my eyes to what the legal system has to offer,” Noyd said.