Mock trial, while not the most popular sport, is still a bountiful one, building skills in using rhetoric, public speaking, investigation, and teamwork. Gateway has had a Mock Trial team for many, many years now. Friendships that had begun in last year’s case persist onwards, even as some go away to college. Naturally, we’re all excited to see each other take on new roles for this year’s case.
Returning Faces
This year in Mock Trial, we have many returning faces from last year’s case, which involved a pet care company—Petzicon—being sued by show-dog-owner Carmen Capella. Justin Paredes (CEO of Petzicon), Desmond McCue (Dog Show Organizer), Jackson Harker (Plaintiff; Carmen Capella), Oliver Crumrine (Defense Lawyer), Abria Joshua (Veterinarian), and Spencer Barrett (Petzicon product safety investigator) are all returning to this year’s case.
A majority of returning witnesses have taken up roles as lawyers this year, spearheading the charge. On the defense’s side, Justin Paredes and Abria Joshua take the role of lawyers, representing Devon Ransom. On the prosecution’s side, Jackson Harker and Oliver Crumrine (returning as a lawyer) represent the State of New Jersey.
The Case
This year’s case has been as exciting as it’s been controversial. The case revolves around a fictitious incident that occurred in March 2024. The Metropolitan University Gaming Club, consisting of Schuyler, Devon, Georgie, and Riley, was playing the first-person tactical shooter game titled ‘Blaze of Honor’. A verbal altercation ensues over strategy between Devon and Schuyler, leading to Schuyler rage-quitting (to quit a match out of anger) the game and blasting Devon on ‘Click Clack’ and ‘Connect-o-gram’ (TikTok and Instagram stand-ins, respectively).
On March 15th, a swatting call came in to Metropolitan PD claiming that terrorists hold the coffee shop that Schuyler, Riley, and Georgie work at, and that they must “go into the coffee shop hard, guns blazing and shoot as many hostiles as possible.” During the raid, Schuyler is severely burned by the coffee they were brewing. Evidence, such as caller location, potential motive, and eyewitness accounts, places Devon under suspicion for the call.
This case is especially interesting due to the twist in the case—Right to Remain Silent. Before the case begins, the defense side has a choice on whether to have Devon testify, or plead his 5th amendment rights & have his friend Elliot Charms testify instead. This puts the prosecution on shaky footing, as they must establish two lines of reasoning depending on who ends up testifying.
Opinions from the Team
This year’s case has been controversial among students for several reasons.
When the team first opened the case, we were met with a wall of discordant slang. Slang phrases such as ‘skibidi’, ‘bussin’, ‘goblin mode’, ‘dank’, etc. are used throughout with reckless abandon and poor implementation. This is evident through their use of Google Gemini in creating the slang translator, showing that the case writers are unable to describe the words they use themselves.
One egregious example is the phrase, “Schuyler had another skibidi plan of Blaze of Honor.” For the unaware, ‘skibidi’ is a nonsense word, defined by their own slang sheet as, “Skibidi – While it started as a nonsense word, it’s commonly used to describe something as “cool,” “good,” “bad,” or “weird,” and can even act as a filler word.” The astute reader may recognize that this definition is riddled with antonyms, making its use as an adjective dubious at best, and harmful to the readability of the case at worst.
Despite these blemishes, the case holds enough interest to captivate the hearts of our Mock Trial team, who work hard for the sake of the case. This road will be a bumpy one, but Mock Trial is all about persistence and perseverance, and we’re confident we’ll pull through.
