On Thursday February 5, the Oratory Mock Trial team headed down to New Brunswick for the Mock Trial Central Region Tournament.  After winning the Union County Tournament, Oratory advanced to the Central Region for the ninth time in eleven years.  The team was confident as they convened in the lobby following homeroom.  They had been preparing this case for over three months, knowing their facts inside and out and everyone had precisely memorized their part.  No team was going to defeat them!

The tournament was going to be a long, grueling day.  Oratory left the school a few minutes after 8 o’clock.  On the bus ride to the venue, members could be seen catching some extra sleep, listening to music or doing some last minute rehearsing.  Not that they needed it.  After last years tough loss in the semi-finals to Middlesex County, Oratory was out for blood.

When we arrived at the NJ Bar Association we took our places in the courtroom.  It still had not been decided which side of the team would compete.  Would it be the defense or the plaintiff?  Both teams were equally as strong, but we still wanted to know.  Captain Connor Briggs drew defense for the first trial.  Meaning our defense team would face off against the plaintiff team from Monroe of Middlesex County.  Middlesex County had knocked us out of the tournament in the semi-finals of regionals last year.  So, Oratory was out for revenge and that is exactly what they got.  Lead by Connor Briggs and Justin Rodriguez the defense team out performed Monroe High School.  The witnesses, Charles Arnedt, David Kendall and Justin Meisner each played a vital role in the win.  After the trial Connor Briggs could be quoted saying, “Today, I looked around, and I didn’t see a single nervous face. All I saw was confidence in preparation.  I am immensely proud of you guys.”

With this win Oratory advanced to the semi-finals of regionals.  This meant that Oratory had just placed in the top 12 out of the 240+ teams competing in this statewide tournament.  Now, we were up against a strong and talented Lawrenceville Prep.  We knew going in this case was going to be a nail-biter and indeed it was.  At no point in the trial was their a definitive leading team.  No one had any idea who was winning.  This trial showed the strengths and weaknesses of both teams.  The teams seemed to be mere opposites.  Lawrenceville had a strong opening while Oratory had an average opening.  Oratory had excellent witnesses while Lawrenceville’s were lackadaisical.

This was a long, slow moving trial that extended to three hours.  The trial had 33 total objections.  To put this in context, the trial before had less than five.  Each objection could be as short as five seconds or reach upwards of 3 minutes.  Near, the end of the case our confidence was dropping.  Lawrenceville’s attorney had just portrayed an excellent closing.  Now it was Christian’s turn to deliver his closing and it needed to be good.   That’s exactly what it was, he reviewed the facts of the case, twisted the words of the defense and convinced the jury to vote in our favor.

Now, it was time for the two judges to deliberate and decide a winner.  No one had any idea who would win.  After fifteen minutes, the judges came back and delivered their comments and review.  The judges really seemed to like Lawrenceville.  They repeatedly kept on complimenting their team and correcting our mistakes.  It seemed that we had lost and,by the judges comments, by a lot.  But, what seems to be the common theme in Mock Trial is that the judges compliment the team that has lost so they don’t feel bad.  This was exactly the case, because we won.  The entire team was ecstatic and Mike Wandel survived his near heart attack.  The next step for the team is the Central Regional Finals on February 25, against the Homeschoolers.  Wish them good luck!