Lincoln Park students participate in mock trial at courthouse

Several Lincoln Park students successfully participated for the first time in the 2019 PA State Mock Trial competition that gives student teams the opportunity to act as lawyers and witnesses.

The competition involved a total of four rounds Jan 17-Feb 7 at the Beaver County Courthouse on four separate evenings. Each round, a student from each team was voted “best advocate” and “best witness” by the other team.

Recognized as best advocates were Shaiane Matotek, Brooklyn Schreiber and Shyane Sims, who was chosen twice. Best witnesses were Sarah Miller, Sims, Charlee May and Alyssa Rice.

Teams assume the roles of attorneys and witnesses and work to simulate civil and criminal trials in front of real judges and panels of juries in a courtroom.

Mia Frank, director of Pre-Law and the Arts, said actual Beaver County Court of Common Pleas judges participated in every round of competition and the jury was comprised of actual lawyers from the Beaver County Bar.

This year’s case was a fictional criminal case: a doctor was charged with drug delivery resulting in death for prescribing opioids to a patient who — unbeknownst to the doctor — was abusing other prescription drugs.

Students prepared and presented both sides of the case, playing prosecution and defense over the course of the competition.

The PA State Mock Trial competition is broken into regions, and then counties at the district level. Lincoln Park was one of 10 teams that participated in the Beaver County division but did not advance to the next level. Each year, the winning team from the state final goes on to represent Pennsylvania in the national tournament.