markson rosenthal

9
FEATURE
February 8, 2008 • THE ARROW
Mock Trial Takes Case to Court
Team Prepares for County Competition
The 2008 Mock
Trial Team:
PHILIP SHAO
FEATURE EDITOR
The members of the WHS Mock Trial team rehearsed and polished their lines
and reexamined every piece of evidence
in their scrimmage at the Santa Barbara
Courthouse last Saturday, Feb. 2.
This scrimmage is part of the team’s
ramping up its already grueling practice
schedule for the competition on Feb. 25
and 26.
In addition to school days, the Mock
Trial team also practices on most holidays
and weekends.
“We have practices some weeks on
Tuesday and Thursday; Monday and
Wednesday on others, and on Saturdays
every week,” explained Brent McCunney ’08.
The planned increase from the team’s
usual nine hours to a strenuous 16 hours of
weekly practice is already under way.
“We are at about 11 hours per week
right now and as the competition gets closer, we’ll be doing even more,” said Kevin
Weiss ’10.
The competition between WHS and
its opponent will be a simulated court-case
complete with pre-trial motions and realtime cross examination.
The trial will be argued twice with one
team’s prosecution squaring off against the
other’s defense and then switching places.
Defense Attorneys:
Nini Xie ’08
Andrew Maleki ’08
Aaron Alpert ’08
Prosecution Attorneys:
Ellen Wang ’08
Dan Parks ’08
Erin Langlois ’08
Alex Palmer:
Kevin Weiss ’10
Stevie Ricco:
Carol Yu ’09
Adrian Chase:
Alexis Rosenthal ’09
PHOTO BY ELLEN WANG
The Case:
This year’s case, People v. Palmer, is a
classic Hollywood murder mystery. The
defendant, Alex Palmer, stands accused of
murdering his estranged friend and Hollywood director Jes Markson. While Palmer
was angry with Markson and in the neighborhood on the night of the murder, the defendant maintains his innocence.
The prosecution will call Carter
Cravin, who will testify about the night
of the murder and how he came upon the
victim’s body.
To complicate matters further, the victim’s girlfriend London Desmond, will describe some of Palmer’s possible motives,
but also raise important questions about
her own involvement in the crime.
Perhaps the most compelling piece
of evidence against Palmer, however, is
Coaches:
Christina Harrison
Julia Snyder
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: Jonathan Kotzin ’08, Nini Xie ’08, and Aaron Alpert ’08 look over
their notes, analyze the evidence, and prepare their lines for the case.
the testimony of Dr. Lee Stark. Stark will
present the results of a “brain mapping”
test that appear, at first glance, to confirm
Palmer’s guilt.
Besides Palmer, the defense has a few
witnesses of its own, including Stevie Ricco. Ricco will explain to the jury the context of the poor relationship between the
victim and the defendant.
In addition, Adrian Chase is a friend
of the victim and will testify that Markson
had been cheating on Desmond.
And finally, to counter the testimony
of Stark, the defense will call to the stand
Dr. J.B. Schrute.
He will testify that the investigation
methods of Detective Brown were questionable and that the memory mapping
technique described by Stark is still too
new to be used in court.
Dr. J.B. Schrute:
Michael Chen ’08
Dr. Lee Stark:
Nik Crain ’10
London Desmond:
Hannah Englander ’09
Detective Brown:
James Garafolo ’09
Carter Cravin:
Brent McCunney ’08
Pre-trial Attorneys:
Jenny DaRin ’09
Jonathan Kotzin ’08
People v. Palmer: Excerpts from the Case
Defendant:
Alex Palmer
Defense Witness:
Stevie Ricco
Prosecution Witness:
London Desmond
Prosecution Witness:
Detective Dana Brown
“We had been friends for years, and
I needed Jes to get back to work as
a stuntman. I really depended on
Jes, so I had no reason to kill him.”
“Alex would come visit me often when
he lived at Markson’s poolhouse...
he’s a great guy, definitely not the
type to hold a grudge.”
“I don’t think the gunshot residue
could have gotten onto Alex Palmer’s
clothes because I had put them in a
new evidence bag.”
Played by Kevin Weiss ’10
Played by Carol Yu ’09
“Alex ran out of the poolhouse,
grabbed his black duffel bag—by
the way, so not his color—and left. I
never saw him or that god-awful bag
again.”
Played by Hannah Englander ’10
Played by James Garafolo ’09