Mock Trial 2024

Back in the courtroom

Amanda Baucher '25

Social Media Coordinator

Everybody hopes they don’t end up in trial at one of the largest courthouses in the United States, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. That is, except for the Louisville Mock Trial Team. Last year the team impressively won the Los Angeles County competition. The academic team of juniors and seniors, led by Mr. Telesca, prepared both a prosecution and defense case around this year’s fictional case.

“Mock Trial is a program established by the Teach Democracy organization some forty years ago, in which 400 high schools in California compete every year,” explained Mr. Telesca when asked about the process of Mock Trial.

“Each year high schools are given a fictional case to prepare, in which one school’s prosecution team competes against another school’s defense team.” Using the case packet, students create two cases to argue in a real courtroom by the time of the competition.

This year’s case followed the abduction of a candidate for office just before the election against the defendant’s husband. Students created scripts to perform their case through pre-trial motions, opening statements, witness statements and closing arguments. The process is completely run by the students, down to the bailiff who swears the witnesses into court. With less than four months to prepare their case, the team worked diligently outside of school. The preparation for trial took long hours of practice, writing and memorization before the Royals were ready to compete.

“I loved working with the team, juniors and seniors. Being a witness was actually really fun because it was all storytelling,” said senior Elle Calle ’25 when describing her first year in Mock Trial.

Elle was prosecution witness Taylor Alexander, who took the stand to testify as the victim in this case. In her role, she claimed she missed her political debate because she was kidnapped just three days before the election by her rival's spouse, Logan Gold. The prosecution argued that the kidnapping was a type of sabotage so that Gold's husband would win their election against Alexander. Simultaneously, the defense argued that the evidence was inconsistent with Gold’s alibi and forensic evidence at the crime scene.

Both the Louisville prosecution and defense teams had the opportunity to tell their story of the case against another school. Despite the objections and the logistics of a courtroom, at its core Mock Trial is telling a narrative based on the facts.

“It was so great getting to compete with such an amazing team in my last year in this amazing program. It was a great last season for me as I’ve been doing mock trial since sixth grade,” remarked senior Stephanie Hage ’25 when reflecting on her final year with the team.

Her emphasis on the brilliance of not only the Louisville Mock Trial program, but also her teammates, reflected the strong bond the group created.

Even in the face of some of the strongest competition in the state, the performance of Louisville’s Mock Trial team in the courtroom was nothing short of professional and persuasive. Both the defense and prosecution made the most of their opportunity to compete and delivered such powerful cases.

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