On Wednesday February 1st, the Franklin High School Mock Trial Team will go head to head in their first trial of the year against Milford High School.

For months the team has been working together, and preparing themselves for this season.

The team has had four scrimmages, two of which were hosted at Franklin High School. During this upcoming trial, Franklin’s defense team will be performing.

Each year the team is assigned a “Case Packet” which consists of affidavits and other documents to make a case for both the prosecution as well as the defense. This year the case is based around a war veteran who comes back home, only to end up shooting and killing his/her enemy from high school. The war veteran is played by Catherine Smith who will be performing for the team on Wednesday.

“I am very excited and anxious for our first trial on Wednesday. I can’t wait to see how all of our hard work plays out” states senior, Alexander Sinks.

There will be six students representing Franklin High School as an attorney, and three students representing the school as a witness, while the teams Prosecution will be there to cheer the team on.

On Wednesday February 8th, the team’s Prosecution will be performing against Bellingham High School.

This year the team has added new members to the team, some of which freshman. As some members will be going into their last few trials, others will have many more fun experiences with the team over the next several years.

“I’m really excited going into our first few trials because we’ve already put a lot of work into this year’s case. New members have also been working really diligently to learn all the rules and trial procedures, and they’ve really been a great additions to the team,” defense captain, Helen Huang states.

Each trial lasts about two hours long, where students perform opening and closing statements, as well as direct and cross examinations of each of the witnesses.  

“I think we are in a really good place for our first trial compared to prior years and I am really excited to see how it goes” says the team’s captain, Christopher Regan.

The team hopes to win the Mock Trial State Championship by the end of the season.