The St. Louis U. High Mock Trial team competed in the first round of preliminaries for the High School Mock Trial competition last week. The two teams garnered mixed results, with Team White winning three out of three ballots and Team Blue winning just one ballot out of three.

The Mock Trial competition features schools from around the country trying fake yet realistic cases in real courtroom settings in front of real legal professionals. The LegalBills come into the season after a stunning yet close loss in the regional round of last year’s competition.

This year’s case centers around accused murderer Jean Sertra and whether he loaded the gun that would eventually be used as a prop to kill Jean Batiste. The prosecution brought in three witnesses to try and convince the jury to side with them—method actor Simone Buvwar, convict Max Fleischer, and a sleazy lawyer, Tommie Hagen. The defense brought Jean Sertra, the accused murderer, Jake Brown, an insurance representative who discovers a Ponzi scheme that points the finger at another person outside of the trial, and Reggie Electra, a podcast maker who goes undercover to get a story but ends up finding much more.

Experienced sophomore lawyer Carter Fortman led Team White, which is often considered the less experienced team. Fortman worked closely with freshmen lawyers Jack Rybak and Peter James to put together a solid defense for Jean Sertra; The witnesses for the trial included senior Christian Marzo, who played the accused murderer, junior Jake L’Hommedieu, who played Jake Brown; and freshman Eli Dernlan, who played Reggie Electra.

Rybak started the trial by outlining the themes of the case and giving the jury a captivating introduction to their argument in his opening. Then, after all the witnesses had testified, Fortman gave a closing argument as a final plea for justice on behalf of Sertra. Ultimately, the team was successful, winning every judge’s ballot against the opposing team, Cor Jesu.

“A day before the trial I was pretty nervous. A week before I really didn’t think we were prepared,” said Dernlan. “We kinda pulled it together the day before the trial.”

Despite late preparations, the team kept its composure during the trial.

“I think we made good objections during the trial. We could’ve made more but I think objections were our strong suit,” said Dernlan. “We really threw off Cor Jesu, who was a pretty scripted team. We weren’t as scripted and were able to think more on our feet,” said Dernlan. “I think that’s the main reason we won.”

“I saw the white team in the practice round the day before the trial. They were pretty strong. They had a good theory of the case, and apparently performed well on Tuesday,” said Assistant US Attorney Donald Boyce, ’90, one of the team’s legal advisors.

“I’m definitely confident for the next round.” said Dernlan. “I keep hearing that we are going to get overconfident and then screw it up, but I feel a lot more confident for this next trial.”

Team Blue, often considered the more experienced team, was led by senior lawyers Nick Prainito and Josh Kempker-Thetford. Rob McManus and sophomore Charlie Albus rounded out the team. Their witnesses included seasoned senior James Tillman playing Max Fleischer, sophomore Nathan Malawey playing Tommie Hagen, and sophomore Jimmy Morefield playing Simone Buvwar. The team played the prosecution this round, meaning they had to prove the case on behalf of the state of Missouri. Charlie Albus opened for the team, while senior Nick Prainito finished the case with a powerful case summary and plea to the jury.

“I felt overall it went pretty well,” said Malawey. “I was a little disappointed with the result, but I think I see now where we can improve upon our performance and have a strong round two.”

Boyce also had some praise for the team despite the disappointing scores.

“I saw some well-prepared witnesses who were very compelling, some good lawyers, and a smart presentation, ultimately a good job by the crew,” said Boyce.

“I think they (Team Blue) are in a good spot. They laid a good foundation and are in a good spot to advance,” said Boyce. “If the group puts in the effort I am confident they will succeed. SLUH does a great job with finding the small important details, but they can often lose the big picture of the case,” said Boyce.

“I feel like we have potential. Maybe some untapped potential, but we definitely have potential,” said Malawey. “I think if we can get everyone to put in the work we can make it to state level and maybe even national level.”

However disappointing the ballot results may be, the first tier of criteria to move on in the competition has to do with the winner of the trial. That is determined by the ballot of the presiding judge of the trial. Both teams won that ballot, meaning they are currently in the top half of teams.

“I’m very confident that we’ll have a great round two,” said Malawey. “We have a lot of good lawyers, good witnesses and overall two good teams.”