“May it please the Court?”

With those words, Hickman County’s Mock Trial team began competition in Louisville this past weekend. For two days, coached by teacher Ann Jewell and attorney Mary Potter, assisted by gifted and talented teachers Brenda Mahan and Tiffany Kyle, twelve students became attorneys and witnesses in the case of Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. Sam(antha) Oddington. 

Mock trial is a fancy term for Perry Mason type courtroom drama played by students.

Thirty high schools sent prosecution and defense teams to try Mrs. Oddington in a series of rounds that lasted from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning. The first “trial” was a random match between a prosecution team for one school against a defense team from another. The next three trials saw teams of similar abilities competing against each other.  Hickman County was one of the newest teams at the event. Some schools had been in the competition for close to thirty years.

Teams and individuals were judged on their knowledge of the case and the law. Student lawyers gave opening and closing statements, examined and cross examined witnesses and rose to make objections.  Real judges presided over the cases and attorneys and law students served as competition judges.

Three prosecuting attorneys, juniors Alex Richards and Cody Whitlock and freshman Sydney Harrison, presented their case for reckless homicide against the Defendant, Samantha Oddington. The only senior on the team, Richard Stanfield, portrayed the investigating officer, Detective Chris Cross. Junior Kelsey Gargus was Dr. Jamie Johnson, the state medical examiner and junior Abby Murphy was Dr. Maxine Paine.

Mrs. Oddington was defended by junior Emily Mulcahy and freshmen Makenna LeBlanc and Cayce Brockwell. Witnesses for the defense were Mrs. Oddington played by junior Nicole Lynch, Sean Padgett played by freshman Sydney Harrison and junior Jamie Bolen as Dr. Pat Evanstein, retired medical examiner.

Some students did double duty during the competition. Two students, Abby Murphy and Sydney Harris, played double roles. Abby was Dr. Paine for the prosecution on Friday and a defense attorney on Saturday. Sydney Harrison was a prosecuting attorney on Friday and defense witness Sean Padgett on Saturday.

Each phase of the trial was timed. Each school had to provide a timekeeper for each trial. Timekeepers from prosecution and defense sat side by side and signaled participants of their remaining minutes. Students who went over their time limit lost points. Richard Stanfield and Nicole Lynch shared Hickman County’s timekeeper duties.

Each team was judged collectively to achieve a ranking in the competition. Each student was judged individually on their performance. The award for best attorney on Hickman County’s team went to Cayce Brockwell. Best witness honors went to Abby Murphy.

In their first outing, Hickman County’s team learned from other teams. First person critiques from judges helped sharpen their legal skills. High school students became acquainted with the rules of relevance, hearsay and courtroom demeanor. 

The students are already thinking ahead to next year’s competition. While they came home happy with their performances, they look forward to going back with a year’s experience under their belts.