St. Ives Society

The 2005 Regional Mock Trial Championships were held in the courtrooms of the USDC for the Eastern District. Nineteen (19) teams entered this year, including two Jesuit teams (Jesuit Blue and Jesuit White). On Saturday, between rounds, the Jesuit Blue team met in Conference Room 5A where they got po-boys and a pep talk from Bob Kerrigan '60. On Sunday, one of the stars of our 2001 team, Francis Barry ('01), who received a perfect score in the 2001 Regional final round, returned to cheer on the Jays.

It should not be forgotten that 2005 was the first year that public schools sent teams to the Regional Mock Trial Competition, and it should not be forgotten how well those teams performed.  An article in the Gambit described how the team from Rabouin lost to the Jesuit White Team. The article related in part:
 

"By 2:30 p.m. the kids from Rabouin were hustling towards the elevator to do the unthinkable: go head to head with Jesuit. Franklin, too, moved on to the second round. Then it was over. The Jesuit team was the school's younger team, but they were still cocky, confident, and fluid. . . In an hour long critique at the end of the session, the trial judge commended them all, but the boys from Jesuit, the reigning district champ of the mock trial circuit, controlled the courtroom. They'd worked with seniors who had competed in the national competition. They'd worked with their regular squadron of lawyer dads, and alumns. The three suits and twenty-odd casual dressers who sat behind them clearly expected a win and they got it. They would fight on to regional finals the next day, ultimately losing to their own school's senior team. But Rabaouin proved something too. That they can compete and do well."

Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 19, 2005, causing the closure and disruption of so many public schools.  It is sad to think that we will never know just how good those public school teams would have been in subsequent years.

State Tournament:

The 2005 Louisiana Mock Trial State Championships were held in Alexandria, and included seven champions from seven regions. It was single elimination format. In the first round, the Jays defeated a team from New Iberia. In the second round, undefeated (1-0) Jesuit Blue hit undefeated (1-0) Baton Rouge Magnet High, which beat us in the final round the last two years. Baton Rouge Magnet was assigned the role of prosecutors and the Jays were assigned the role of the defense in a conspiracy to violate civil rights case.

The Jays got off to a strong start when Jack Stanton (the 2003 Best Attorney In State) gave a much more powerful opening statement than his counterpart. He admitted that the warden had violated civil rights, but challenged the prosecution to build a bridge from the warden to the accused (his supervisor). He defined conspiracy, and identified the three elements of conspiracy as the three parts of that bridge. He promised the jury that the prosecutors would fail to build that bridge, and, in the end, would ask the jury to make a leap of faith. When they did, he said, the jury would know that the accused was not guilty. When he was done, the jurors smiled.

Baton Rouge then called their three witnesses to the stand. All three witnesses were good actors/actresses and elusive targets. The student playing the part of a Carmen Miranda, the San Marcan victim of the prison beatings, spoke with a very believable Spanish accent. The student who played the part of a prison guard told the jury that she agreed to testify for the prosecution, not because she faced 20 years in jail and got a deal for her testimony, but because she "just had to set her soul free." From the stand, she breathlessly pled to Miranda to forgive her for her sins. She was good.

All three of Baton Rouge Magnet's witnesses took liberties with their own affidavits. The Jays tried to disrupt their directs with "unfair extrapolation" objections, but the three Baton Rouge attorneys did a remarkable job of arguing in circles and asking for "a little latitude." The judge allowed each attorney to reply as many times as they wanted, and the result was the longest round (3 1/2 hours) the Jays had ever seen.

The Jays did better on the substantive objections (i.e., hearsay objections, 404B objections, 609.1 objections, etc.); Baton Rouge did better on the more flexible objections (i.e., relevance, unfair extrapolation, more prejudicial than probative). When the prosecution rested, the Jays were down on my scorecard.

The Jays then called our three witnesses. All three witnesses performed well, and the momentum started turning. Our directs were tighter than theirs, and our witnesses held up much better on cross-examination. In fact, Baton Rouge High ran out of time during their cross of the accused (which is supposed to be the pivotal part of each round). But everyone in the room was tired (after 3 1/2 hours), and the shots our guys were landing just didn't get the crowd going. By the time we rested our case, I thought we were still a little behind.

Then, senior John Becknell (2004 Best Attorney In State) gave the best closing argument of his life. He resurrected the "bridge of conspiracy" theme, and went through the prosecution's case, explaining how 2 of their 3 witnesses offered no evidence of conspiracy, and the third (the prison guard testifying in exchange for a reduction of his sentence) did nothing more than bring a memo from the accused. He pointed out that the memo called for "punitive measures," not physical violence. He called the memo a "paper bridge," and he said it did not support the weight of the serious charges. He told the jurors that, in a courtroom, their verdict is supposed to be based on evidence, not emotion; on reason, not passion; on the truth, not drama. It was his best closing argument. I felt the match was a coin-flip.

The judges agreed. One judge scored it a victory for the Jays. The other judge scored it a victory for Baton Rouge Magnet. The tie went to the presiding judge, who gave the nod to Baton Rouge Magnet. The Jays were understandably disappointed, but they congratulated the other team, and wished them well in the finals. The Jays earned 3rd place.

Graduation:

At graduation, the Jesuit High School Mock Trial Team lost a group of young men who started together as freshmen, and redefined the program.  They were, without a doubt, the most talented class that the Mock Trial Team has ever seen, and they represented Jesuit High School well inside and outside the courtroom.  The 2005 graduating class included: Jack Stanton, John Beknell, Tommy Slattery, Michael Tufton, Michael Gretchen, Tim Brinks, Travis Andrews, and Michael Mims. They will be missed.