“All rise, the honorable judge presiding.” These are the first words that the Franklin Mock Trial Team of 2010-2011 heard when their first competition took place on Thursday. The Clinton Court Room was filled with the Franklin and Bellingham teams for the first time since last year.
The two teams went at it just like normal. Christine Taft, a junior, made a strong opening statements for Franklin, earning a score of 9 out of 10. Starting the case, Kathleen Keliher, a senior, performed the defenses first strong cross examination of Ms. Sascha Berk receiving 10 out of 10. Then Nick Hurst, also a senior, followed up for the Franklin Team by performing another strong cross examination of Mr. Pat Doherty, also receiving a high score of 9 as well. Then we had Alex Barbato, a sophomore, perform a very strong cross of Sergeant Don Beasley receiving another high score of 9.
After the prosecution (Bellingham) finished with all of their witnesses, John Wiech called to the stand the star witness himself, Chris Botaish, a senior or better known to this case as Mr. Eddie Bernson. Mr. Bernson is accused of involuntary manslaughter for killing two people in a fatal car crash. The Prosecution accuses Mr.Bernson of stealing a stop sign that supposedly led to the fatal car crash. The direct was solid, earning 8 points, and Chris earned a 10 for his performance. Nick Holland continued for the Franklin Team performing the direct examination of Mr. Armani Gavriel, played by Sam Duffy, another senior. Mr. Gavriel was Mr. Bernson’s alibi in the case. Both Sam and Nick received scores of 10. Finally, Christine Taft, a junior, called to the stand Tom Cannon, a senior, or as she likes to call him, Mr. Marc Devlin. Devlin was a very key witness, proving that it was not the lack of a Stop sign that killed led to the accident, but the construction of the dangerous intersection. Christine earned a 10 for her performance and Tom earned a 9. And Tom was also lucky enough to earn Mr. Walsh’s famous Pocket Constitution, meaning that he was considered the MVP of this trial. The case ended strong ,just like it began, with an excellent closing statement by John Wiech, who earned an 8.
When all was said and done, the judge had to get down to business, adding up the scores of both teams, and adding any bonus points or penalties and deciding the fate of Mr. Eddie Bernson. In the end, Mr. Bernson was not charged with involuntary manslaughter, but was charged with stealing the Stop sign. However, all punishments as a result of the theft were suspended. And Franklin beat Bellingham, 105 to 97, bringing in the first victory for the Franklin Mock Trial Team. Next Thursday, we will have the Franklin Team as the prosecution and they will hopefully bring in another win for Franklin.
Let’s just hope that Mr. Walsh remembers to wear his luck ring! GO MOCK!
Sarah Carroll