About The Competition
On September 22nd to 24th, STA’s Mock Trial Team attended a two-day competition at FSU’s College of Law. The state-wide competition consisted of four mock trials with a prompt that was given months in advance. Randomized teams were then created and separated between the plaintiff (a person who brings a case against another in a court of law) and the defense. Individuals were scored out of 10 points based on their crosses and directs or the witness’ performances. After extensive adjudication, points were tallied up to account for the overall team, and awards were given to teams or personal performance.
Comeback Story!
After a delayed flight, the team arrived at 2:00 A.M on Saturday. Despite the insufficient amount of sleep, our STA students competed to their fullest extent on Saturday. Competition proved to be especially tough against Miami Arts, whose team of witnesses were hard to crack. Ultimately, STA lost both trials on Saturday. The team did not allow it to weaken them and fought back harder on Sunday. In particular, the third trial stood out with the following information: A man died in an accident while mountain hiking, despite hiring a guiding service for his trip. The plaintiff, an STA team, claimed that the guiding service had not conducted proper procedure to keep the man safe. After a back-and-forth debate with another high school, STA students won the case. STA continued their winning streak and won both trials on Sunday, leaving Saturday’s disappointment behind them.
Awards
The competition ended with two Best Attorney awards to Gianna Gramanzini and Matias Velasco, who both personally ranked in the top 20. Several rookie Mock Trial members also did exceptionally well for their first experience. Although the team did not rank, the FSU competition was a “learning experience for the February competition,” Ethan Tablan, member of Mock Trial, stated, “Currently, Mock Trial is celebrating their accomplishments and refining their skills to come back stronger in February!”
