The Livingston High School Mock Trial Team recently provided the program for the Livingston Lions Club.
Team members include: Noe Trevino, a freshman; Mason Drappeaux, a freshman; Carmello Ivory, a sophomore; Stetson Henagan, a sophomore; Tobias Johnson, a junior; Jaxon Grimm, a junior; Jase Harrison, a freshman; Makayla Brooks, a junior; and Denisse Diaz, a junior who serves as team president.
Law Enforcement Instructor Meagan Young serves as the advisor for the mock trial team which she said started three years ago in 2023 with only seven students on the team. They achieved second place at regional competition that first year. They won first place at regionals the next two years, allowing them to be one of 27 teams participating at state. Their goal is to aim for nationals next year.
The process is a courtroom simulation that teaches students courtroom proceedings by acting out criminal or civil trials with the students taking on roles as attorneys and witnesses. The students thoroughly prepare, going over every detail and working through it as a team.
The teams receive the case packet in October and starts digging in immediately, preparing questions, anticipating how that might go and getting to know the case backward and forward by January in time for competition. The process teaches the students to think on their feet and also that objections are not attacks, but an opportunity to get information out there.
As for the simulated witness statements, the students have to know their information as they are not actors, but are putting on a persona. Every participant is important, including the courtroom artist and the timekeeper who is crucial because without him, the whole flow of the courtroom is thrown off and the case can be thrown out.
