Mock Trial

For More Information, contact: UMassMockTrial@yahoo.com

Founded by two undergraduate students in 2007, University of Massachusetts Amherst Mock Trial is an American Mock Trial Association intercollegiate team competing in strategy and performance-based legal education tournaments at the local, regional and national level.  In mock trial, each college and university receives an identical case packet of a fictional criminal or civil legal case (containing evidence exhibits, witness affidavits, etc). Collegiate mock trial contains theatrical elements (i.e. witness character performances), as real court cases often do, but is otherwise completely unscripted and unpredictable in nature. Individual teams divided into attorneys and witnesses prep a case released by the AMTA (American Mock Trial Association) and take it to jury trial. Each tournament consists of typically four rounds in which three attorneys and three witnesses argue the case on either the plaintiff or defense side.

Comparable activities are Model United Nations, debate team or even varsity sports, since the team travels to compete against other colleges and universities as the UMass Amherst representative within AMTA.
Our competitive season, as recommended by the AMTA, consists of two invitational tournaments and the Northeast Regional tournaments. In the 2009-2010 season, we will compete at the Coast Guard 3rd Annual Guardian Invitational, the University of New Hampshire Invitational, and the Northeast Regional Tournament (which will occur during second semester).

Recently, the team also received a cordial invitation to the Harvard Crimson Classic invitational tournament in Boston, MA on November 7-8. This is a highly anticipated invitational where the core of upper legion mock trial institutions are attending; seeing schools like Yale, Princeton, Suffolk, Tufts, Brown, and Villanova. UMass welcomes the opportunity to competing against the best of the best in collegiate mock trial.

Mock Trial allows students an arena in which to hone skills in advocacy, critical analysis, and legal reasoning. It is complementary with numerous course offerings on campus and subsequent law or graduate school education. It is a pool of opportunities for students to distinguish themselves competitively against other Mock Trial programs. Mock Trial programs are becoming endemic to liberal arts universities in New England and benefiting from an increasing trend towards mock trial programs at the high school level. Successful Mock Trial programs impact admissions, post-undergraduate trends, visibility, and prestige for parent universities.

Because of our location in Massachusetts, we are in the most competitive Regional circuit in the country. As a result, we compete against the most a plurality of the consistently “Top 10” teams. In only our second season, we established ourselves as top contenders for the National Mock Trial Tournament, having placed 11 out of 20 teams in the Northeast Regional Tournament last year.

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Here is a brief synopsis of the case:
    On June 16th, 2008,  Jacob Bennett went missing. Nearly a month later, he was found dead in Midlands State Park, buried a 8-12 inches in the ground with a gunshot wound in his chest. Mr. Bennett, the acclaimed film director of Trifecta Entertainment, was about to celebrate his 20th wedding anniversary with his wife, but he never got the chance to say he loved her, or to say goodbye. This is because Mr. Bennett was at the hands of a conspiracy; a scheme fueled by vengeance and greed; a plan that was meant to make Jacob Bennett disappear for good. He was killed by the hands of Jackie Owens and Casey Maxwell. These two criminals have been accused of murdering their boss in efforts to gain complete ownership of Trifecta Entertainment.
    Casey Maxwell has turned state’s witness, pleading guilty for crime facilitation; saying he was just the puppet in Jackie Owens grand scheme. The state stands to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that 1) Owen’s purposefully and knowingly murdered Jacob Bennett, and 2) Owens tampered with the evidence. The defense will try to create a cloud of ambiguity within the prosecution's case in chief.

Witnesses available for the Prosecution:
-    Ari Finch (lead detective in charge of investigation)
-    Jordan Lee (lead crime scene investigator )
-    Hunter Baxamusa (astronomer)
-    Casey Maxwell (partner of Trifecta)
-    Shannon Stark (personal friend of Jackie Owens)
Witnesses available for the Defense:
-    Jackie Owens (defendant)
-    Sydney Michaels (Jacob Bennett’s financial assistant)
-    Alex Grace (actor for Trifecta Entertainment)
-    Adrien Malone (car dealership owner)
-    Loren Charney (expert entomologist)

Who do you trust?


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Information about UNH Invitational:
The University of Massachusetts Mock Trial team competed in their second tournament of the season at the University of New Hampshire from October 23rd-25th. 16 other schools participated, including Tufts, Clark, and the nationally-ranked University of New Hampshire.

UMass ended with a final record of  5-2-1, their first ever record above .500. Out of the 16 teams competing, UMass placed 3rd and was also awarded their first ever trophy! The founder of the team, David Chen, earned a "top witness" award for the entire tournament.

But, the Minutemen were still not finished. UMass was the only team awarded with the "Spirit of AMTA" trophy, which reflects that the Minutemen used good sportsmanship during the tournament and respectfully upheld the rules and policies set by the American Mock Trial Association.

This tournament was a milestone for UMass Mock Trial. The team is only in their third year and is still student-run. Of all the teams at the UNH tournament, UMass was only team not coached by teachers, attorneys, or law professors. Never before has the team received such respect and recognition in the intercollegiate mock trial circuit.

Prior to UNH, the UMass Mock Trial B team competed in the 3rd Annual Guardian Invitational at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT from October 16th-18th, Having relatively no college mock trial experience, the team placed 13 out of the 24 teams!

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Team “A” Roster:
- Joseph Mendes (captain: attorney/witness)
- David Chen (captain: attorney/witness)
- Holly Galvin (captain: attorney/witness)
- Jenna Ruddock (attorney)
- Adam Maidman (attorney/witness)
- Abby McCann (attorney/witness)
- Alysson Gray (attorney)
- Micah Levin (witness)
- Aphrodite Marmarinos (witness)
- Elizabeth Montgomery (witness)

Team “B” Roster:
- Stacy Hronowski (attorney/witness)
- Rob Carney (attorney/witness)
- Alyssa Connelly (attorney)
- Amanda Khiterman (attorney/witness)
- Tali Levy (witness)
- Julia Barth (attorney)
- Jesse Holmes (attorney)
- Samantha Seserman (witness)
- Kieu Ngo (witness)