In two years, Mock Trial works to make practice perfect
By Betsy Timbers | February 19, 1998Did the celebrity newscaster, in the prime of her career, murder her cocaine-addicted son or did she shoot him in self-defense? The Dartmouth College Mock Trial Society, in only its second year of existence, will send two teams to Manchester Community College in Hartford, Conn., this weekend to argue this case at a regional mock trial tournament. If the Dartmouth team matches last year's top-four finish, it will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, in April to compete in the American Mock Trial Association's National Championship Tournament. Last year's team took the "Best New School Award" at the 1997 National Competition. "Our performance last year put Dartmouth on the mock trial map," said co-Captain and Mock Trial Attorney Dave Gacioch '00. This year's "student-founded, -led and -directed" team consists of 16 undergraduates who collaborate to prepare testimony, arguments and witness examinations for a fabricated case they will argue against other colleges at tournaments, he said. The Mock Trial Society will argue the case four times during this weekend's two-day competition, and each trial can last for up to three hours, co-Captain and Mock Trial Attorney Rosanna Taormina '99 said. She said members will compete against 20 teams from schools including Brown, Yale, Cornell and Howard Universities. "We will have almost every top team at the Manchester tournament," Taormina said. "Powerhouse" mock trial teams generally have an attorney coach, and some schools, such as University of Maryland, even offer Mock Trial Competition as a yearlong course.