MARYSVILLE – It is his place to judge.
Marysville Municipal Court Judge Fred Gillings welcomed the 10th Street Middle School Mock Trial team into his courtroom this week. It was a practice round for the students, who will compete at state next month in Vancouver.
Gillings was a little more positive than usual. Instead of reprimanding students for doing something wrong, he gave them practical suggestions. However, he told them if they “want more torture” and come back to his court for another practice round, he would be tougher. “You got the nice judge today,” he said.
The students listened to what the judge had to say and when debriefing afterward discussed what they need to do better next time.
Prosecutor Evelyn Vega-Simpson said she needs to be better prepared so she can be more confident and have more eye contact. She needs to ask more relevant cross examination questions. One weakness in the defendant’s case was paying a witness $400 for their testimony. The judge told Evelyn to go after that hard.
Aaron Abele, who teamed with fellow eighth-grader David Lockwood as lawyers for the defense, said the judge told him to become more confident by “working with his family,” practicing at home. Aaron said he needs to work on opening, closing and cross examinations. Aaron and David were on the mock trial team that won state in Spokane last year as seventh-graders.
The judge said both sides paid too much attention to small distractions in the case. He said to focus on important facts, such as the car’s design was flawed, if a load wasn’t tied down, etc.
The judge said a “gem” was missed. Someone said, “It’s OK to kill one hippy,” the judge said. “That shows prejudice there. Use that gem in closing arguments.”
Evelyn asked him about objections. He said they are OK as long as they are not repetitive and become a distraction. “Don’t give up just because there’s an objection,” he said. “You might just need to lay more foundation.”
The judge said he knows at the mock trial state competition many teams try to throw off their opponents by objecting all the time.
“It’s a tactic to disrupt you,” he said.
The team’s teacher, Eric Hansen, said this is a dress rehearsal and the problems can be fixed. He said they would do much better if they weren’t looking at their notes on their Ipads all the time.
“You have to be present to be involved,” Hansen said.
Before state, he said the team needs to know the content of the case better. They need to memorize their lines instead of reading a script. They need to sort through the material and better process what doesn’t matter.
Hansen has been leading the 10th Street team for seven years, but has been involved in mock trials off and on for 20 years. He said he is interested in law as a hobby.
“Every once in awhile I run into a wall and have to ask lawyers” I know, he said.
The case
The prosecution alledges manslaughter due to negligence of a corporation. The dead man was in an automatic-driven car that got into an accident with a mule-drawn carriage. In a split second the car decided the best of all possible outcomes was to crash so only its driver was killed. “That program is true, which is super scary,” Hansen said.
