The members of the Putnam Valley High School Mock Trial Team, coached by social studies teacher Sean Gilroy, were all smiles when they won Putnam County’s mock trial championship several weeks ago at the Putnam County Courthouse.
On Saturday April 25, 2009, at the Dutchess County Courthouse in Poughkeepsie, the PVHS team set out with that victory-inspired enthusiasm to face new opponents in the regional competition.
New York State Mock Trial is a highly structured and scripted program that teaches high school students the basics of trial law. High school teams take one “pretend” case supplied by the state, and work on all aspects of it. Mock trial team members play the parts of attorneys, plaintiffs, defendants, expert witnesses, and all of the other characters that make up a real-life trial. What is definitely not scripted is the role played by the judge: these trials take place in real courtrooms and are tried in front of real judges.
At Dutchess Courthouse the participating county teams were paired off and sent to small family court courtrooms on the third floor of the building. A limited number of spectators were allowed to watch, along with the teams’ coaches. Putnam Valley was slated to compete against Red Hook’s team in the opening trial of the day.
To a first-time mock trial spectator it was a fascinating look into how civil cases are argued. Seated at the tables for the plaintiff and the defense were legal teams of three students each. These “attorneys,” all of them boys, in this case, were professionally dressed in dark suits, some sporting leather briefcases and American flag lapel pins.
Each team had clearly studied its courtroom procedure and addressed the judge with mature and professional deference. The case itself was a rather straightforward libel suit, and both teams were aggressive and thorough in their presentations, although some of the “witnesses,” in particular, seemed better prepared than others. In the end, the judge scored in favor of Red Hook by 58 point to 55, and the Putnam Valley team was eliminated from further competition.
One PV team member gathered his papers and rushed out of the courthouse to make it back to PVHS in time for the long-awaited regular season varsity lacrosse match against PV’s perennial Class C rival, Rye. As he entered the elevator, Mr. Gilroy waved and said, “Have a great game. PV needs to win at least once today!”
Based on their having won the Putnam competition for two years running, there is no doubt that Mr. Gilroy and his talented team will be back next year, hungry for a regional win, and perhaps more.
Members of the 2009 Putnam Valley Mock Trial team include Dillon Chesnut, Dan Cray, Chris Nelson, Maddi Kane, Jen Davis, Conor O'Leary, Rebecca Bierhoff, Nick Cascioli, Courtney Bobik, and Mike Byrne.
