the american mock trial association welcomes you amta evaluator orientation

The American Mock Trial Association Welcomes You

AMTA Evaluator Orientation

Author

It is helpful to begin the presentation with a brief history of the organization (over 20 years old, has educated thousands of students in the American legal profession), your involvement, and why judges' contributions are so valuable.

THIS IS A CRIMINAL CASE.

• The State is pursuing a murder charge against the defendant.

• The trial has been bifurcated and deals only with guilt vs. non-guilt. Penalty is reserved for a separate proceeding.

The Merits of the Case

• Mock trial cases are designed to be fact balanced so that each side has roughly equal material with which to work. But this can present difficulties in a criminal case because of the State’s high burden.

• So it is important to focus on each sides’ understanding and negotiation of the facts as they are provided as opposed to additional facts that you believe the participants should have or how you believe a jury would vote based on the merits of the case.

A Witness Issue Unique to this Year’s Case

• If you have judged college mock trial before, you know that you may see different witnesses from round to round. In this year’s case, there are some rounds in which you may hear testimony from a person who has accepted a plea bargain to testify against the defendant. In other rounds, that person will not testify. For purposes of those rounds where that person does not testify, that person has pleaded not guilty and will be tried in a separate proceeding.

Your Role

• Your role is to evaluate the student competitors.

• Some students will be attorneys and some will be witnesses, but every student will be evaluated.

• Evaluating consists of two things:

SCORING and CRITIQUING

Your Ballot Guides Your Evaluation

• You will be given a 5 page ballot that will allow you to critique every function you evaluate and to give a score for every function.

• The ballot is a carbon form so make sure not to lay pages on top of one another while writing.

• Page one begins with suggestions on what to look for while evaluating. We will come back to this later. At the bottom you will see a place to comment on each of the opening statements. Please provide only narrative critique, all scores are to be written on Page 5.

Author

Note that all defense functions, like the space for the defense opening on this page, are shaded grey for ease of use.

• Page 2 covers the prosecution’s case and is broken into 3 main sections because the prosecution will call 3 witnesses. Within each section there are 4 boxes that allow you to comment on the performance of 1) the directing attorney, 2) the crossing attorney, 3) the witness on direct and 4) the witness on cross. Again, scores are written on Page 5.

• Page 3 is set up like page 2 because it covers the defense’s case. Like the prosecution, the defense will call 3 witnesses.

Author

Note that page 3 is laid out just like page 2 but there are more grey shaded ares becasue page 3 covers the defense case-in-chief.

• Page 4 covers closings. The prosecution will go first and then the defense. The prosecution will then be allowed a rebuttal but only if the closer has requested to reserve time before commencing the closing proper. There is also a catch-all area for writing overall comments about the presentations.

Author

Note that everything in mock trial is timed but the teams are responsible for as much, with one exception: If the P closer does not reserve time for rebuttal in advance of the closing proper, do not permit it. Note that strict enforcement of this is requested.Note that the catch-all area can be used for issues ranging from how cogent a team's theory was to the inappropriateness of someone's shoes. Essentially anything that is not easily pigeonholed into any other area of the ballot system.

The Scoring Sheet

• All scores are written on this sheet. Note that every function must be scored and that a space is provided for every function. At the bottom are spaces for ranking the top 4 attorneys and top 4 witnesses in the trial.

Author

Note that every function in mock trial is scored and the scoring speed sheet provides a space to score each function. Note that 10 is the best and 1 is the worst.Note that in the likely event that P gives a rebuttal, the evaluation of it is incorporated into the evaluation of the P closing proper for a single score for the P closer.Note that the bottom of the ballot asks judges to rank order the best 4 attorneys and 4 witnesses in the trial. Note that when filling in the witness slots the student names and not the character names should be used. Also request that they circle sides.

Scoring

• Each attorney and witness is scored on a scale from 1-10.

• 10 is the best, 1 is the worst. Fractions and decimals are disregarded so use only whole numbers.

• IT IS VITAL THAT YOU SCORE AS YOU GO!!!!!!!!!!!

• Ranking of the top attorneys and witnesses at the bottom of Page 5 is a wholly subjective call for each judge to make.

Author

Note that fractions and decimal points are disregarded by the tab room, only whole numbers will be recorded. If pressed on this it may be helpful to explain that since this is the policy, a judge that records a 7.8 will actually be giving a student a 7, so if the performance is closer to 8 that should be the score used. Note that the individual attorney and witness slots at the bottom of the ballot are not asking the judges to go back and add up other scores. Rather this seeks a very subjective read of the participants in the round. Take care to emphasize the score as you go directive. Typically the speech should go as follows:“One of if not the worst thing that can happen in mock trial is for a judge to not fill the scoring/speed sheet out as the trial progresses. You are judging students that have spent literally thousands of hours putting this case together and some of them are incredibly skilled. You will not, for example, be able to remember the nuances that may have separated the 2 opening statements if you wait to score them 2 hours later. For the next couple of hours you are the judges. Please act as those in real life do, take the time you need to fill out scores before moving on to the next portion of the trial.”

•IT IS VITAL THAT YOU SCORE AS YOU GO

What to Look for When Evaluating

• Attorneys should be evaluated on their knowledge of case facts, courtroom procedure, the rules of evidence, and courtroom decorum.

• Witnesses should be evaluated on how convincing their portrayals are and how well their testimony corresponds with their side’s case theory.

• Remember that Page 1 of the Ballot has detailed suggestions on what to look for in attorneys and witnesses.

Author

Explain that witnesses are created so that either sex may play any role and may do so irrespective of physical attributes AND ACCORDINGLY, TEAMS ARE NOT PERMITTED TO ARGUE THE CASE PROBLEM BASED ON AS MUCH. The classic example is the prohibition of attorneys suggesting that a given witness was or wasn’t capable of doing X because of her size.

What to Expect In the Round

• You will be evaluating a criminal jury trial. If you are on a 3 judge panel, 2 of you will evaluate (complete ballots) and one will act as the trial judge. If you are on a 2 judge panel, one of you will evaluate and act as the trial judge.

• If you are evaluating you should expect to be addressed by the teams as a juror.

Author

If there are juries at the tournament you are at, explain that when possible the scoring judges should sit with the jury. Also note that while the jury’s comments are welcome at the end of the trial, they are not to be given until the blues have left the room.

If You Are the Presiding Judge• You will rule on objections based on the Midlands Rules of Evidence

which closely mimic the Federal Rules. The objection exchanges that arise from them are helpful in evaluating attorney knowledge.

• In addition to the rules of evidence, the students have been given rules of criminal procedure, statutory law, and case law to use. These are the only codes and law they may use. Do not apply precedents or rules not provided in the case materials.

• Witnesses are considered to have been already sworn and all documents are presumed signed.

• Formal certification of expert witnesses is not required. Expertise is established by laying the appropriate foundation.

• Keep the trial moving but allow for a brief break between cases in

chief and before closings if time permits.

Motions

• The attorneys can make a MOTION TO STRIKE.

• The attorneys can also make a MOTION TO CONSTRUCTIVELY SEPARATE WITNESSES, though this rule does not apply to the designated State's representative or the defendant.

• No other motions can be made.

Author

Note that the separation motion is available so teams can employ that real life strategy but that separation is constructive (i.e. no one leaves the courtroom) because the activity is educational and we want to allow competitors to witness the entire process.

Invention of Fact• Occasionally there will be a dispute as to whether a witness has

unfairly invented or extrapolated a fact. No objection to such an invention is recognized; the remedy is impeachment. 2 basic rules govern invention of fact.

• On direct examination a witness is limited to the facts contained in or reasonably inferred from his or her affidavit.

HOWEVER

• If on cross examination a witnesses is asked a question, the answer to which is not contained in the witness’s affidavit, the witness may answer with any answer so long as the answer does not contradict other facts in the witness’s affidavit and is responsive to the question asked.

Author

Note that if they have judged high school mock trial they may have encountered objections such as “unfair extrapolation,” “invention of fact,” “beyond the scope of the case,” or “outside the mock trial universe.” Note that these artificial objections are not recognized in college mock trial and if an attorney believes a witness has improperly made something up, his remedy is the same as in real life, impeachment.Note that defining a “reasonable inference” is up to the trial judge but suggest that these would typically be things which enhance the character of the witness but do not materially effect the outcome of the case.

Time Constraints

• To keep the trial moving there are time constraints on openings, closings, directs, and crosses.

• Teams provide their own timekeepers that keep track of their time.

Author

Note that if the overall trial goes more than 3 hours, both teams get losses so it is important to keep the trial moving.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION!

The American Mock Trial Association

the american mock trial association welcomes you amta evaluator orientation

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