Students attend mock trial competition

Middle school students became attorneys, defendants, witnesses and bailiffs during the South Carolina Bar Regional Middle School Mock Trial Competition held at the Florence City-County Complex.

Students from St. Anthony Catholic, Williams Middle, Johnsonville Middle and Hanna-Pamplico Middle schools convened at the law enforcement complex early Saturday to argue their cases before members of the South Carolina Bar who volunteered for the event.

Steep fines or prison time were not at stake during the mock trail but rather percentage points and the opportunity for advancement to the bar’s state competition.

The Johnsonville Middle School mock trial team was named the proposed winner of Saturday’s competition, according to S.C. Bar Association officials.

The winner of the mock trial will be confirmed this week after bar officials review the results.

This year’s fictitious case was the State of South Carolina vs. Kinsley Williams, a boarding school student in York County accused of cyberstalking.

The prosecution alleges that Williams sent another student, Jamie Anderson, dark and disturbing messages through the schools chat room using a school lab computer.

St. Anthony Middle School was one of two teams that competed against Johnsonville during the mock trial event.

Patti Odom, a faculty advisor for the St. Anthony team said much preparation goes into the competition.

“We practice before our (school) day begins, and we practice at the end of the day,” Odom said. “We’ve been working since the second week in September.”

This year, most members of the St. Anthony team are sixth graders, Odom said.

An exception is Jenna Cyran, an eighth grader who has been on the team since she was in the sixth grade.

“It’s exciting. I learned a lot of things about what happens in a courtroom that I never knew before,” Cyran said.

Cyran said perhaps the most difficult part about the competition is the objections.

“You don’t know what they are going to say,” Cyran said. “I tell (my teammates) to work hard — just have fun and relax, and be prepared for objections.”

Each mock trial team is allowed to have as many as 30 members, Odom said.

The S.C. Bar Association provides each team with the charges and the testimony, Odom said. Each team is expected to build its case using that information, she said.

Teachers are also given a book with guidelines and state laws that apply to the case, she said.

“It’s always fun for me, as a teacher and coach, to see how each school develops their cases,” Odom said.

Each team faced off against two opponents. Team members portrayed prosecutors, prosecution witnesses, and the plaintiff in one match and portrayed defense attorneys, defense witnesses and the defendant in another match.