mock trial!

Today was the very first time I have ever competed in a mock trial competition. Owatonna held an invitational meet. I was two witnesses today. One being an annoying twelve year old prankster, the other a professional, arrogant 52 year old meteorologist. Being two different witnesses means being in two different trials. And let me tell you, they're not fun unless you really dig court stuff, as I do.

Imagine an episode of Law & Order, now imagine the lawyers as awkward, awkward teenagers. And that's how my day went.

So, in the first trial, I was the meteorologist, Harley Bolton. I was the VERY LAST witness to be called to the stand, so I had to sit through the whole trial freaking out, because I wasn't sure if I'd remember anything. And when I'm nervous, my stomach growls like I haven't eaten for WEEKS. It's embarrassingly loud.

Anywho, I get up to the stand, and my lawyer is being one of those "um, er, uh" AWKWARD teenage lawyers, while I answer his questions as if I'm an experienced, wise-about-weather person. After we've stumbled through the direct, I mentally prepare myself for the cross examination. My character had a drug problem, but it was nearly impossible to question me about it without being objected to. But, lucky for me (as in I wasn't lucky), the awkward kid who knew all the rules by heart, he found a way to make me admit Harley Bolton had a hardcore substance abuse problem. Danggggggggg.

And, if that wasn't bad enough, he twisted up his questions and made me sound like I was testifying in court as a favor. No, I was definitely not supposed to say that. I'm surprised I got a 9 (out of ten) on the direct and a 7 on the cross.

For the other trial, I more or less pretended I had ADD. 12 year old seem like they have ADD, right? So I didn't stop moving for the whole 2 hours of court. I fidgeted through the opening statements, direct and cross examinations of 6 witnesses (including my own), then the re-directs and re-crosses, the objections, the submitting of exhibits, the closing statements. I was getting tired of moving!

Funny thing is, our coach thought we won both of our trials, but we won neither. Oh well. We've got the rest of the season to work on stuff. Maybe we'll win the next one(s)!