High school students test mettle in mock trials

Published 12:01 am Sunday, February 27, 2011

Collin Daviscourt confidently walked toward the jury and outlined the defense.

A police officer saw a man in an alley who matched the description of an arsonist they were trying to apprehend.

The officer spotted his police dog lying motionless on the ground, and a man nearby holding a

long cylinder.

When the officer yelled at the man to drop the gun and put his hands in the air, the man pointed the object directly at him.

“Fearing for his life, Officer Kadich did the only reasonable thing he could do,” firing his gun twice, Daviscourt said.

The suspect died. And the officer, Kenley Kadich, was on trial for second degree murder.

Daviscourt and six other members of the defense team — all students at Archbishop Murphy High School — were battling for his acquittal.

They were just one of the teams from three area high schools participating in an annual district mock trial competition Saturday. The nine-hour event was held at the Denney Juvenile Justice Center in Everett.

With teams from King’s High School in Shoreline, Archbishop Murphy, and Marysville Getchell high schools, a total of 85 students participated in the mock trials, taking on the roles of prosecution and defense teams, as well as witnesses and bailiffs.

The students argued their cases before Snohomish County Superior Court judges and three-member “juries” — attorneys who would grade and critique the students’ work at the end of the trail.

“I’m so impressed with all of you,” Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Ellen Fair told Marysville Getchell and Archbishop Murphy students at the end of their hour-and-a-half trial.

“I have to remind myself you’re in high school and you’re not actually lawyers,” Fair said.

Attorney Chris Hook said was “mesmerized” by the pretrial motion presented by student Annie Dang, a junior at Archbishop Murphy.

Hook complimented Marysville Getchell freshman Franceska Rojas for her examination of a witness. “You were really good not asking leading questions,” she said.

Students practice all year for the competitions. At Archbishop Murphy, students practice twice a week from 6 to 8 p.m., said their coach, Roger Brodniak.

“Teamwork and friendships is really what it’s all about,” Brodniak said.

Rojas said this was her first year in the mock trial competition.

“I learned how you have to think really fast on your feet,” Rojas said. “If something catches you off guard, you have to quickly prepare.”

An Archbishop Murphy team took first place in the competition, and will go on to a state championship competition in Olympia on March 25-27. A team from King’s High School placed second and Murphy’s junior varsity placed third.

The event gives students a first-hand experience in how the legal system works, said Linda Krese, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge who helped organize the attorneys and judges volunteering in the event.

Previous competitions have inspired some students to go on to law school, she said.

Students take the competition seriously, “but I think they have a good time,” Krese said.

“It so nice to see a bunch of kids at court because they’re hard working, good students.”