Charter school students enjoy mock trial success

By Bill Fonda / bfonda@cnc.com
Friday, April 23, 2004


A high school prank. A missing street sign. A fatal traffic accident.

Those were the key elements in the 1996 case Florida v. Cole, et al, in which two men and a women were convicted of first-degree manslaughter after three men died from a traffic accident caused by a missing stop sign. The convictions were overturned in 2001.

Those items also form the basis for the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School's mock trial competitions. The team has gone 4-0 and is headed toward the southeastern Massachusetts championships at the Southern New England School of Law. The competition was scheduled for last week, but was postponed because a courtroom was not available.

E. John Wherry Jr. of Orleans, a former law professor at Widener University School of Law and former dean at the former University of Orlando School of Law, helps English and history teacher John Stewart coach the team.

Wherry said he was impressed with what the middle school students are able to do.

"I was there once," he said of his middle school years. "I got in trouble."

The 14 students play more than 20 parts in the mock trials - serving twice as the prosecution and twice as the defense. Each participant receives a score from the judge, with the points tallied to determine the winner.

Em McDermott of Yarmouth was a defendant in one of the cases, which she said was terrifying.

"When you're on cross-examination, you really don't know what the other team is going to ask you," she said. "Sometimes, you answer the wrong thing."

As a member of the prosecution team, Maleeka Webb of Harwich reconstructed the removal of the stop sign, including the paint chips on the truck which toppled it.

"I had a lot of evidence to show the defendant did intend to knock over the stop sign," she said.

Conor Benoit of Eastham cross-examined an expert witness for the defense.

"It's really scary when you go up there the first time," he said. "I've never been in court before, but it was fun."

Sam Marvin of Eastham has performed both direct and cross-examinations. He said he prefers the latter.

"That's one of the most important parts of the case," he said. "You're kind of badgering the witness and getting him to say what you want."

After first receiving the case in January, the students worked on their cases during 18 90-minute seminars, as well as Sundays and after school. The team even had a connection to the original case, as the prosecutor was the daughter of Wherry's constitutional law professor.

Because there are no middle school mock trials locally, the Lighthouse team has had nothing but "road games," in the competition, which is run by the Bristol County district attorney's office.

"We have to travel for our trials to Taunton and New Bedford and Fall River," Stewart said.

The team will face Ford Middle School of Acushnet in the regional competition. Although the students beat Ford earlier, the score was close.

"It was the most nerve-wracking one," Kevin McKay said.