(TEACHER’S GUIDE) - Anchorage Bar Association



(TEACHER’S GUIDE)

CONDUCTING A MOCK TRIAL

Mock trials are, needless to say, simpler than real trials or even the portrayals of trials one sees on television. Here are some tips and instructions on running a mock trial in your classroom. These instructions assume that the teacher will play the role of the judge, but feel free to modify this or any other aspect of these instructions to fit your needs. Please refer to the courtroom diagram, and the other instructions.

Courtrooms all look similar, and they are designed a certain way because long experience has taught that the layout is useful for conducting the business of court. To the degree possible, try to arrange your classroom to look like a courtroom – put a desk near the front for the “judge”. Appoint a student to act as “bailiff”, to handle all of the evidence, swear in witnesses, keep time, etc. Have the attorneys for the plaintiff (prosecution) and the attorneys for the defense sit close enough that they can confer on strategy. If you have a jury, put the jurors in a place where they can clearly see all of the other participants.[1] Everyone else, including witnesses, should sit in the “gallery”, behind the attorneys. The only exception is the defendant him- or herself, who should sit with defense counsel at the defense table. If possible, try to make some space in front of the judge and jury and in front of the counsel tables, so that the attorneys can walk around a bit as they are presenting.

It is no longer true in America, but it was once the case that the jury always sat to the judge’s right. In any event, the party that bears the burden of proof always sits closest to the jury – usually the plaintiff (prosecution).

In the Alaska High School Mock Trial Competition, there are three attorneys for each side. Each attorney will conduct one direct examination and one cross-examination. In addition, one of the three will also give the opening statement and another attorney will give the closing argument. The idea is to spread responsibilities around as much as possible but still maintain the limit of three attorneys per trial. Depending on the number of students who will be participating in your mock trial and the amount of prep time students will have, you may want to break these responsibilities up and spread them across more than three attorneys. For example, you may want to have one student only give the opening statement and not worry about any of the witnesses. Or, you may want to have one attorney focus only on cross-examination. Keep in mind, though, that some students will likely also need to play the role of witnesses (unless you bring in people from outside the classroom to do this). In the Competition, three other team members will play the roles of the three witnesses the team plans on calling as part of its case-in-chief. For the sake of consistency of testimony, it is probably best that you keep the practice of having each witness played by only one student.

We recommend that you set time limits for each side to present its opening statement, case-in-chief (direct examination), cross-examinations, and closing. Good time limits are: 5 minutes per side for opening; 5 minutes per side for closing; 15 minutes per side for the direct examination of all three witnesses combined; and 10 minutes per side for the cross-examination of all three witnesses combined. With normal delays and things spilling over time, this will stretch into about 1.5 hours. Shorten the time limits if necessary to fit your schedule, or split the trial over multiple days.

It helps to set the tone of formality from the outset. When the room is set up and everyone is in their appropriate position, you should leave the room. Have the bailiff open the door for you, walk into the room, and say:

“ALL RISE! HEAR YE! HEAR YE! HEAR YE! This honorable court, the Superior Court of the State of Alaska, Fifth Judicial District at Alaskopolis, is now in session, Judge presiding.”[2]

Then the bailiff should step out of the way and you should walk to the judge’s seat. After you are seated, say:

“You may be seated. Before the Court is the matter captioned Chris Wilson versus Happy Mountain Daycare, Incorporated, Case number 5AP-06-9999 CI [or State of Alaska versus Logan Wheeler, Case number 5AP-07-9999 CR]. Are the parties ready to proceed?”

The plaintiff (prosecution) attorneys should all rise together and respond “Yes, your honor.” Then they should sit down. Then the defense attorneys should all rise and response “Yes, your honor.” Then they should sit down. Whenever someone is addressing the judge in the court, they should rise to their feet and address the judge as “your honor”.

When both plaintiff (prosecution) and defense have acknowledged that they are ready, direct first the plaintiff (prosecution) then the defense to present an opening statement. After the opening statement, ask the plaintiff (prosecution) if it is ready to present its case-in-chief. When the plaintiff (prosecution) is ready, have them present their case through direct examination of their witnesses.

You should proceed in this manner throughout the trial. By and large the participants should control what happens, but the judge should direct the timing and keep things moving. You may want to have the judge or the bailiff use a stopwatch to time the different segments of the trial and hold up signs to let the participants know when their time is running short. If you are going to do this, it would be helpful to have one stopwatch just for the plaintiff (prosecution) and a different stopwatch for the defense.

After all of the evidence has been presented, each side should present closing arguments. First invite the plaintiff (prosecution) to do so. Ask them if they would like to reserve some of their closing argument time for rebuttal – for instance, they might present four minutes of closing, but reserve their final minute for a rebuttal after the defendant closes. It will be up to the plaintiff (prosecution) to keep the first part of their closing argument short. If they use up all five minutes, they do not get extra time for a rebuttal.

After both sides have closed, if you have a jury you should read the jury instructions to the jury. It is certainly not necessary, but if you have the time you might let the jury actually take some time to deliberate and decide on a verdict. The jury can then present the verdict to the court. If you would like to do this, after the closing arguments, say:

“Jury, you have heard the facts and evidence, and you have heard argument from both sides. You have been instructed as to the law. I now ask you to please retire and carefully consider your verdict. The bailiff will escort you to the jury deliberation room.” If classroom space allows, have your bailiff take the jury to another room to discuss. The bailiff will be a kind of gopher – he or she will stay with the jury, and if they have questions or want to see the jury instructions or any physical evidence, the bailiff can come ask you about it. Alternately, you can have the jury deliberate in front of the class, including the lawyers and witnesses. As long as the deliberation is constructive and not mean-spirited, this can be very informative for the participants in the mock trial. It is often fascinating what juries think are the important facts. Even better, if you have the technology, is to have the jury deliberate in another room (away from the trial participants) but to eavesdrop on the deliberations with a video camera.

If you do not have time for jury deliberations, just leave that part out entirely. It is generally not helpful to have students vote on a verdict or announce a verdict if they have not deliberated as a jury. Indeed, it is frequently the case that jurors will change their initial impressions about how to rule on a case after discussing the case with their fellow jurors. If your jury is made up of your own students, but ones who did not participate in the trial, you might want to consider not having the jury deliberate but instead have each student write a page about how he or she would decide the case and why.

At the conclusion of the trial, if there was a jury the jury should whisper its verdict to the bailiff. The bailiff should tell you, and you should announce the verdict: “After careful deliberation, it is the verdict of the jury that [announce the verdict]. This case is now concluded. Off record.” If there was no jury, you announce “The Court will take this matter under advisement. Off record.” When you say, “off record” it means the mock trial is over – you are no longer a judge, you are now a teacher and the participants are students. It is often valuable at this stage to offer a few positive notes about each student’s performance as an attorney or witness.

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[1] A jury can consist of other students in your class or a different class. Or, you may want to see if parents or grandparents can come and sit as the jury.

[2] Mock trial participants love this. As a matter of fact, it does not happen much in real courts anymore, especially not the “Hear Ye!” part.

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