Mock trial prepares Lake Co. high school students for future

The stakes don't get any higher than a first-degree murder trial, and there were 16 of them Saturday in the Lake County courthouse in Waukegan.

Attorneys dressed in their finest suits huddled anxiously to discuss strategy, witnesses paced nervously in anticipation of being called to the stand and the defendants whispered quietly to their lawyers.

And the bulk of the people involved were not even old enough to be licensed to drive a car, let alone practice law.

The sixth annual Lake County Mock Trial Invitational drew some 250 high school students in 16 different teams from schools throughout Northern Illinois.

The concept is built on an Illinois State Bar Association competition that concludes next month in Champaign with a showdown between the best of the best.

What the kids have to do is study the facts of a criminal case, then be prepared to act out those facts from any side of the equation, prosecutor, defense attorney or witness.

It is an extracurricular activity at schools, Zion-Benton Township High School team counselor David Cruz said.

"The kids we get in this program are really interested in the law," Cruz said. "But it is a great program for any student because of the skills it teaches."

Young people, including those who do not want to study the law, learn important life skills such as how to organize, how to speak in a public place and how to think on their feet, Cruz said.

Wheaton Academy student Iain Mirrielles was the perfect defense attorney Saturday afternoon, grilling prosecution witness Pamela Silva from Zion-Benton Township High School.

Silva was portraying the coroner who signed-off on an autopsy in an 1858 case where a man died as a result of two beatings he took on the same day.

Silva, as the coroner, was satisfied with her decision that the blows inflicted by the defendant had killed the victim, but Mirrielles was having none of it.

"Did you talk with any of the so-called witnesses," Mirrielles asked, his voice dripping with contempt. "Isn't it a fact that you are not a doctor, but a butcher by trade?"

It was in fact a fact, given the case scenario laid out by the Illinois State Bar Association which sponsors the local competitions leading up to the state finals next month in Champaign.