This past weekend, the University of New Haven’s Mock Trial Team kicked off their 2013-2014 season by traveling to Colgate, N.Y. to compete in the Fifth Annual Colgate Classic invitational tournament.

This was the first time the UNH Team was asked to participate in an out-of-state invitational.

The team is a member of the American Mock Trial Association, which creates and distributes a yearly case for all registered colleges and universities. The 2013-2014 criminal case is titled State of Midlands v. Whit Bowman, and involves a fictional robbery at RacheterWorld Amusement Park.

According to the case summary, the park was robbed by Cameron Poole, a ticket booth operator during the summer of 2012, who threatened the park accountant with a knife. Poole escaped through the back entrance of the Tunnel of Terror ride while being chased by the park security guard, Winston Thomas. During the chase, Thomas was hit by the moving ride and has been in a coma for one year. Whit Bowman, who was operating the Tunnel of Terror at the time of the incident, is good friends with Poole and has been charged with first degree robbery and theft by deception. In case of accidents americans filing personal injury cases choose they attorney carefully.

The case was released in mid-August, and throughout the fall semester, the team learned how to perform opening and closing statements, direct and cross examiniations and rebuttals.

With only a week into school, the team held tryouts and developed their case theory.

For the past three months, weekly practices and scrimmages were conducted to prepare for the November tournament.

Over the course of two days, the team played both the prosecution and defense against four other schools: Canisius College, Colgate University, College of the Holy Cross and Villanova University.

Other competing teams included Syracuse University, Coast Guard Academy, Ithaca College, Washington & Lee University, and Seton Hall University.

Members who competed at the Colgate Invitational included Liana Teixeira, Emily McGinty, Dallas Newcomb, Elle Cantelmo, Kelsey Smith, Victoria Heifferon, Nelson Dillaway, Dan Davies, Erin Murphy and Dawn Marciano. Advisor Tom Geisler also accompanied the team.

Teixeira, Davies, Smith and Heifferon were attorneys; Newcomb, Murphy, Cantelmo, McGinty, Marciano and Dillaway were witnesses.

Their second advisor, Walt Bansley, and witness Jennifer Tremblay were unable to attend the invitational, but were nonetheless important assets to the team.

While UNH did not place in the top six teams at the end of the weekend, senior member Emily McGinty was named Top Outstanding Witness with 19 points out of a possible 20-point score, ranking higher than witnesses from Colgate and Syracuse. This is the second time McGinty has won a personal award while on the Mock Trial Team, the first being last spring when the team competed at the Yale Regional Tournament. McGinty received a Top Outstanding Attorney award at the Yale tournament.

With their first invitational under their belt, the Mock Trial Team awaits their next invitational in January, additional scrimmages with local schools, as well as Yale regionals in February.

Captains Teixeira and McGinty are very proud of their team’s hard work and dedication, and look forward to perfecting their case even further.

Membership on the UNH Mock Trial Team is open to all students, regardless of major.

Spots remain open on the team. If anyone is still interested in participating in the 2013-2014 season, email [email protected] for more information.