May I approach the bench Your Honor?

Caiti Green, witness for the prosecution, chats with 'prosecutor' Gabe Hinderlider during a break in the Oregon High School Mock Trials Feb. 25 in Bend. Both students attend Redmond Proficiency Academy and took a semester-long class in Mock Trial. (Leslie Pugmire Hole)

by Leslie Pugmire Hole/Spokesman staff

In the end, the state’s case was just too weak. It could prove motive but there just wasn’t enough direct physical evidence proving that the accused murdered the victim.

So when the legal team from Redmond Proficiency Academy (RPA) tried its case in the Deschutes County Courthouse on Feb. 26 it was no huge surprise when the defense won pretty much every time it came up to bat.

Thirteen students have been enrolled in a Mock Trial class this semester at RPA, a local charter high school, and were participating in the 25th annual Oregon High School Mock Trial Competition, sponsored by Classroom Law Project, a nonprofit group.

The class was an education for everyone, including its teacher, Leanna Long. With no legal experience and no previous mock trial exposure, Long – a certified teacher not on the full-time RPA staff – nonetheless stepped forward to teach the class when her daughter, Beth, expressed interest.

“This fall we started by learning about the judicial system and points of law,” said Long. “Then we conducted a practice mock trial to get an idea what it was like.”

None of the students had ever been in a court of law so most of their frame of reference came from class – and what they had seen on television or the movies.

The students are assigned roles for the trial: prosecutor or defense attorneys, experts such as scientists or police officers, court clerk and other witnesses. Teams receive a 94-page packet containing all the documents needed to try the case such as witness statements, police and forensic reports and other documentation. Also in the packet is information needed to understand how to toe the line in the courtroom: rules of evidence, cross-examination and hearsay, presentation of evidence and the required manner to address the judge and jury.

Jesse Johnson, a freshman, portrayed a loan shark the defense was trying to point a finger to in the murder of a business owner with a gambling problem. His witness statement is more than six pages long, a document he had to commit to memory in order to correctly answer questions on the stand.

“Sometimes you just have to wing it because you never know exactly what they’re going to ask you,” said Johnson.

The lawyers can refer to their notes, an advantage they have over witnesses, but then they never know exactly how the other team’s witnesses will reply and, therefore, often have to go “off script” as well.

The class did get a bit of expert help from Greg Scott, teacher and assistant director of RPA, who is also a licensed attorney. Scott visited the class early on to help with preparation for Mock Trial.

Kaycee Robinson, junior, acted as prosecuting attorney during cross-examination.

“We spent a lot of time going over the witness statements, then came up with possible questions as we were preparing for trial,” she said. “But we had to cut some due to time (each segment of the trial has a time limit) or because we decided it wasn’t relevant enough.”

Everyone in the class was happy to hear that this year’s mock trial case would be a criminal one – and a murder at that. Their in-house practice trial was a civil lawsuit and not nearly as fun, they agreed.

In the courtroom Feb. 25 it is clear preparation counts. In round two RPA’s prosecution team is up against a defense that uses few notes and seems familiar with exactly when it can and cannot object to questions from opposing counsel.

Gabe Hinderlider, handling the direct questioning for the team, holds his own, getting Johnson to admit his past criminal convictions and threats to the deceased. Robinson follows with cross-examination that keeps defense witnesses from elaborating during answers in any way that may benefit the other team.

The mock trials are judged by a team of three, one of whom acts as the trial judge. Bend attorney Thomas Spear presides over RPA’s second go, generously allowing both sides to rephrase questions that would normally not be allowed.

Johnson and RPA witnesses Caiti Green, a sophomore, and Cody Cook, junior, play their parts well, pretending to pause for thought when asked a question and getting testy when questioned by the defense.

Long, who is not allowed to advise the team during the trials, sits in the courtroom gallery watching intently, occasionally nodding to herself or shaking her head.

After closing statements she breathes a sigh of relief. “Well, this was nerve-wracking but I thought we did well. I can see we need to work on understanding objections, the other team did that a lot more and we need to know better how to respond.”

Spears, as presiding judge, critiques both teams with both positive points and items to work on. “This is an uphill case for the state to prove, it has a lot less to work with and that’s no reflection on them,” he adds, before telling the students that the defense team put on a stronger presentation. In round one, RPA’s defense team was also given the nod.

“I was proud of our team,” Long said after the trial. “It was a very positive experience for everyone.”