A Trial of A Trial (A Mock Trial story)

I am not a Lawyer, I am a teacher. I have been the primary coach of 27 homeschool Mock Trial teams over the past 13 years Eight of those years we took 1st place at the Alabama State Competition. 10 of those 11 years we had students chosen for the Alabama Mock Trial team competing in the National Mock Trial Competition. And in 2008, our homeschool team placed a very respectable 8 out of 18 at the American Mock Trial Invitational in Charlotte, N.C. At this point, it would be fair to say I have a fairly good idea of what Mock Trial should look like. I have seen many good teams in our competitions, and I have seen many weak teams. Weak teams can become better - if they choose to work hard, and if they have some assistance from a coach who cares. But in 11 years of doing this, what has aggravated me the most are the teams who cheat. Most of this story comes from a trial we competed in where the other team acted almost identically to the Defense team here - but the difference was they didn't have John McGrew as a judge. They had a judge who let them cheat and get away with it. They managed to shut down a Plaintiff team made up of new students - students who were prepared for a lot - but not for these types of bogus objections. I wrote this story almost immediately after that trial - as my version of what should have happened!