Mock Trial places 5th in Colorado and gets ready for the Emerald City Invitational on Dec. 3 - 4
(-- The Beacon)
By Lesley Dawson Staff Writer dawson14@up.edu
Calvin Tuhy took a deep breath and turned to the courtroom. He then launched into a description about the events that led to the death of Vanessa Sullivan on the way home from a friend's 21st birthday party at a bar.
"May it please the court, opposing council, ladies and gentlemen of the jury," Tuhy said. "On Sept. 25, 2010, Vanessa Sullivan was murdered by the defendant: Danny Dawson. Now, the defendant didn't premeditate this murder, or do it purposefully.
The defendant committed this murder through extremely reckless actions in which he endangered others. The defendant committed this murder by drinking to excess and insisting on driving Vanessa Sullivan home. He then drove off the road into a utility pole, killing Vanessa."
No, Tuhy is not featured on this weeks Law and Order: SVU. Nor is he trying to convince a real jury of anything.
Instead, he is arguing the case to bring home a win for UP's Mock Trial squad.
Mock Trial is an academic club that meets for six hours a week, practicing trials and learning courtroom procedure, while earning participants one academic credit per semester.
Under the direction of political science professors Steven Taylor and Bill Curtis, Mock Trial members run simulated trials to learn the basic rules of the courtroom.
Tuhy explains that the experience of running trials helps members gain an advantage over other applicants if they choose to apply for law school in the future.
"There are all sorts of rules and things you have to say and ways to think when it comes to real trials," Tuhy said. "A lot of people looking to go to law school do Mock Trial to get a feel for what to do in the courtroom."
UP's Mock Trial has three squads. Each squad is comprised of a first attorney, second attorney and a witness. The squad practices for both prosecution and defense, allowing its members to have the chance to both argue the case and stand as a witness.
About a month before tournaments, Mock Trial receives a case from a national association that coordinates collegiate mock trial. They then prepare for their tournament season.
Last weekend, two of UP's three Mock Trial squads travelled to Colorado to participate in their first tournament of the year, hosted by the Air Force Academy.
UP's Mock Trial team also sent one squad to an invitational in Irvine, Calif., where last year's national competition was held.
At the tournament in Colorado Springs, one of UP's squads tied for fifth place with teams from the University of Denver and Creighton University. The other squad took ninth place.
Freshman Mark Krautscheid, in his first ever tournament, won a tournament-wide best witness award.
Freshman Jennifer Perkins earned Team MVP as a witness and Rookie of the Year of the entire tournament.
Junior Jeff Makjavich has been looking forward to the upcoming competitions. Makjvich believes that even though the squads will be challenged this year, they have already gotten off to a better start than last year, especially with their performance in recent tournaments.
"This is an incredible improvement from where we started out last year as a team, and I expect that we will only continue to grow with more experience and exposure to other teams," Makjavich said. "I think we are on a definite path to success this year."
Tuhy, a member of last year's team, is also looking forward to this year's tournament season.
"I'm excited," Tuhy said. "I'm anxious to see how we stack up."
Mock Trial's next competition, the Emerald City Invititational, will take place at the University of Washington Dec. 3 and 4.
