more photosFrom Monday through Friday, Michael Sullivan is the presiding judge of the Deschutes County District Court. But on Saturday morning, his duties at the county justice building were a little different.
Job one: Figure out how to turn the lights on.
Job two: Figure out how to turn on the heat.
Sullivan and nearly three dozen volunteers from the local legal community played host Saturday to the regional mock trial competition, an annual event at which teams of high school students play the parts of prosecutors and defense attorneys and try a fictional case. Six schools fielded eight teams for this year's competition, with two teams each from Summit and Sisters high schools, as well as teams from Bend, Gilchrist and Mountain View high schools and the Redmond Proficiency Academy.
The event in Bend was one of seven held across the state Saturday and sponsored by the nonprofit Classroom Law Project. Two local teams, one from Sisters High School and one from Summit High School, will advance to a statewide competition next month in Portland.
Sullivan said it's fun to see the courthouse filled with students enthusiastic about the law and working as a team to put together a strong case.
“We have many activities and opportunities — and I'm supportive of them all — for sports. Sports are great for kids,” Sullivan said, “but there aren't many opportunities for kids to participate in a team-like activity that's not sports.”
All of the teams in the event try the same case, based on a script that includes a handful of known facts and the backgrounds of witnesses, expert witnesses and others.
In this year's case, prosecution teams attempt to prove that a restaurant owner was killed by her business partner, while defense teams work to undermine the case by noting the victim's gambling problems and dealings with known criminals.
Students playing the roles of the individuals brought in to testify are expected to stay true to the script, answering the questions put to them using only the established facts about their characters.
Alexie Sanford, 17, a senior at Mountain View, played the part of Chris Riggs, a detective who investigated the case and may or may not be slightly corrupt. Depending on the strategy of the defense team, a prior investigation of Riggs for evidence tampering can become a pivotal part of the effort to cast doubt on the prosecution's case.
“It's very intimidating when the cross examination comes up because you never know what they'll ask you,” Sanford said. “So I've got to know my part really well.”
Jordan Rudinsky, an 18-year-old senior at Sisters High School, said even though they try the same case time after time, it always plays out slightly differently. Some judges are more or less lenient in the testimony they'll allow, he said, forcing the attorneys to change their arguments in real time.
“Different judges can have different opinions on what gets in, so you never know what will happen,” Rudinsky said.
Victoria Redman, 17, a Mountain View High School senior who faced off against Rudinsky in closing arguments, said people always tell her she'd make a good attorney because she's naturally argumentative. But Saturday, her argumentative tendencies got the better of her, she said. Instead of making her own case, she argued against Rudinsky's, and ended up on the losing end.
This is Mountain View's first year fielding a mock trial team after a five-year hiatus, Redman said, and the school's teams should get better with practice.
“I think we put Mountain View up to a good standard, and it'll make us try to do better next time.”
Local defense attorney Angela Lee, regional coordinator for the competition, said a day in court isn't all that different for the students than it is for her. Even professional attorneys will lose their train of thought while addressing a jury or get jittery, she said, and, like the students, they just have to keep going.
“I think the main thing they get from this is an opportunity to present themselves in front of a packed courtroom,” she said. “It's a confidence-builder for these kids.”
