For the fifth year in a row, a Macalester Mock Trial team defeated 26 other teams from Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin at the regional championships.

Macalester hosted this year’s regional tournament from Feb. 6-8. There are 19 similar tournaments held across the country each February, with the winning teams advancing to “silver flight” tournaments in Kentucky and Florida and the national championship “gold flight” tournament in Iowa.

Mock Trial is a national program in which students from colleges across the United States simulate courtroom procedures by preparing defense and prosecution arguments for the same fictional case.

The case, written by the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA), is released in August and is used for the entire year including at the national championships in April. At all tournaments held throughout the year, including invitational tournaments attended to prepare for the regional and national competitions, students perform the roles of witnesses and attorneys.

A judge assigns each individual participant with a score from 1 to 10. The team with the larger point total wins the round. The sum total of each member’s points makes up the team score. The team with the higher score wins the round.

No verdict is issued at the end of a tournament. “The cases are written so that there isn’t a right or wrong answer,” Laura Kudrna ’07 said.

“In Mock Trial, you’re scored on how well you argue your case, not whether the defendant is guilty or innocent,” trialer Melissa Anderson ’04 said. “When you’re playing a lawyer what matters most is that you are technically proficient and as confident as possible. When you are a witness, you have to walk the fine line between being entertaining and being believable. Mac is great because we all can do both.”

This year, Macalester’s three squads had records of 8-0, 4-3-1, and 3-5. The winning squad, which went undefeated, will attend the national championship in Des Moines this April. The championship squad’s members are team co-captains Laura Bower ’06 and Daniel Burgess ’05, Kemie Alexander Jones ’05, Andrew Gordon ’05, Kate Bauer-Truer ’04, Chris Haugan ’07 and Mitchell Skinner ’05.

Second place went to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and third went to the University of St. Thomas.

The case was a murder trial involving a hockey player who killed another player on the ice before a stadium of fans. One player struck an opposing player in the head with a stick. The struck player fell, hit his head on the ice and died.

The cause of the player’s death was disputed. The accused was aware that the man he struck was sleeping with his wife and had stolen his contract, further complicating the case. Students used witness affidavits and exhibits provided by AMTA to make their case.

The regional tournament comprised four rounds held over two days. AMTA matched teams based on how well they had performed in previous rounds in the tournament.

The Macalester team has attended seven tournaments so far this school year, finishing at or near the top in all of them. Macalester alum and Head of Forensics Dick Lesicko leads the 21 members of the Mock Trial team.

According to Stephanie Powers ’07, Mock Trial requires less outside research than debate organizations and places more emphasis on acting skills.

“What makes up a good team is how polished and fluid you are, and how well you perform under pressure,” Powers said.