Members of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Mock Trial Club will compete among 24 teams in the opening round of a mock trial national championship March 19-21 in St. Louis.
The eight-member team of UCCS students won a place in the national tournament as a winner of a Feb. 15-16 regional tournament. The UCCS group defeated teams from Colorado, Kansas and Iowa.
“This is totally awesome because this is only the second year of the program,” exclaimed Rob Burton, a Colorado Springs junior and president of the Mock Trial Club.
The UCCS club is student-run, though local attorneys occasionally assist as unofficial coaches.
A mock trial is a hypothetical legal case assigned to the teams. The members determine legal strategies for both defense and prosecution before eventually presenting arguments before a judge. This year’s assignment is a murder case. The mock attorneys chose three witnesses from a selection of ten and build cases to present at trial. The American Mock Trial Association sets rules and instructions, and as competition progresses, provides new developments in the case. The changes might help or hinder possible arguments so the mock attorneys must continue to revise strategies.
The UCCS Mock Trial Club has 15 members, enough to field two teams. While both teams competed in the regional competition, one earned a spot in the opening round national championship March 19-21 at Washington University in St. Louis. Winners of this round will advance to a final round national championship.
The UCCS team members (names, hometown and club titles) are:
Rob Burton, Colorado Springs, president.
Hazel Talmante, Hesperus, team captain.
Jessica Steele, Colorado Springs, vice president
Kyle Peters, Colorado Springs
Colin Lord, Cascade
Jessica Briscoe, Colorado City
Michelle Wood, Colorado Springs
Christine McDermott, Colorado Springs
Patrick Yarnell, instructor, Philosophy, serves as faculty advisor to the club, and Jenny Watson, assistant university counsel, has observed club practice sessions.
The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in Colorado Springs, is one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The University offers 30 bachelor’s degrees, 19 master’s and five doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls about 8,500 students annually.