Learning by trial

BARSTOW •  When the bell rings at the end of the day, the Barstow High School students who gather in Room 63 turn the classroom into a courtroom.

Some students become witnesses to a crime. Others practice their roles as attorneys. Still others must learn to keep order in the courtroom as the bailiff. On Tuesday, the high school’s mock trial team will be put to the test in a real courtroom where the 18-member group will make its case before a real judge in the team’s first competition of the year.

While 11th-grader Alfredo Barcenas, a prosecuting attorney, will have to dress up in a suit and tie, he says the mock trial is more than just role-playing.

Succeeding in the trial involves knowing the facts of the case but also mentally lining up your questions for witnesses, knowing proper legal procedures, and having a confident courtroom manner, he said.

“You have to know both sides of the story,” said Barcenas, in his second year on the team. The student lawyers, who will be scrutinized by practicing attorneys and judges volunteering their time, can be stopped at any time and questioned by the judge. When the answers are beyond the facts in the case, you have to think on your feet, Barcenas said.

“When the judge does call on you, it’s really intimidating,” he noted.

Sixteen-year-old Wenses Baca will be trying out a new role as the courthouse bailiff this year. Baca said that in his one experience in a functioning courtroom — when he came before a judge to get a traffic ticket dismissed — he was struck by the grave tone but has found that students in the competition even take it up a notch.

“It is a lot more serious in mock trial,” Baca said.

High school social studies teacher Anthony Hinton, the mock trial team’s advisor, said the team attracts a varied group — from students interested in becoming lawyers to those heading towards a law enforcement career, and even thespians looking for a place to showcase their dramatic flair.

“Witnesses have to be actors,” said Hinton. The mock trial team competes four times —  Nov. 3, Nov. 10, Nov. 17 and Dec. 1. If they succeed in three trials against area schools, they will advance to the semifinals, said Hinton.

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(760) 256-4122 or elee@desertdispatch.com