It is Jan. 26 at 4:45 p.m. and the bus is buzzing with excitement. FHN’s Mock Trial team has just recently gotten on the bus and is heading towards the St. Louis County Courthouse. Mock Trial is a simulation of a real court trial, however it is done by students. The only other difference is that there is more lawyers. The case for this mock trial involves the bullying of a student named Alex Billings and the responsibility for this bullying by the school she attended.

Looking around, most students are mouthing the words to their pieces, studying their parts, or asking their teammates for advice to make their part better. The team had already been practicing their parts for weeks and worked together to put together the case.

“For the past weeks, we’ve been working on this character,” Caleb Black, a member of mock trial said. Black played the defense’s witness, Principal George Li.  “I helped write the direct examination questions for this character and also wrote all the cross examination questions, so I had a good idea of what they were going to ask me beforehand. Besides that, just practicing the parts over and over again.”

It is clear the team has put a lot of time and effort into preparing for this trial and intend to make themselves the best they can possibly be.

After a required security check and an unexpected room change, the defense team finally arrives at their designated courtroom at about 5:30 p.m. The defense team consists of three witnesses and four lawyers. They will be up against Kirkwood for this trial.

The room is filled with excited chatter and more preparation. However, as soon as the judge walks in, the team gets in character and goes silent.

The trial begins and the plaintiff team gives their opening statement. Afterwards, Caitlind Walker stands up and gives the defense’s opening statement. She speaks with an air of authority and instantly draws attention to her words.

“I should have practiced my opening more because I didn’t have all the kinks worked out,” Walker said. “Other than that, I think I was fully prepared.”

Despite the fact that Walker felt she needed to work on the opening a bit more, she looked very professional and carried power in her words.

Moving into the trial, the plaintiff calls up their first witness, Alex Billings, who was portrayed by a student at Kirkwood. After the plaintiff’s lawyer finishes their questioning, the defense lawyer, Marygrace Cole approaches the witness to do the cross examination.

“My favorite part, I think, is always cross examining my witness because I am a crossing queen,” Cole said. “I will destroy you. It’s always the most nerve-wracking for me, but I have so much fun with it.”

Destroy in fact she did. She stuck with simple yes or no questions and would only settle for a yes or no, leaving the witness with little room to pull the pity card.

The very last witness in the trial is from the defense and is portrayed by Black. Black was in character as soon as he stepped to the stand and proved to be a relatively difficult witness for the plaintiff’s cross examiner asking “Do you suggest we waterboard our students?” when asked why they had not known about the continuation of Alex’s bullying. This left the cross examiner stuttering before attempting to move on.

“My favorite part was making jokes with my cross examiner probably because it’s fun to do stuff like that because it really throws them off guard as well as helping you a little bit with points.” Black said.

After the trial was over, the team shook hands with the other team and then headed downstairs to get their scores. The defense team won their trial by a landslide which the team members were very content with.