Although the last two weeks of January have been predominately characterized by students stressing over their mid-term exams, Middletown High School South’s Mock Trial Teams—the prosecution team and the defense team—both competed in their long-awaited annual competitions at the Freehold Courthouse. Considering the long hours of writing, practice, and preparation for these competitions, the Mock Trial Club’s large knowledge base of courtroom proceedings, law, and debate techniques strengthened their status as a force to be reckoned with in the eyes of their competitors.

At this competition at Freehold, participating Mock Trial Teams from every school needed to make their case for the plaintiff or the defendants in the trial Capella v. Petzicon Products, Inc. During this trial, the participating schools needed to take on a case involving a woman named Carmen Capella, the plaintiff, whose champion show dog Sally—a gorgeous west highland terrier—was “poisoned” by a flea treatment she purchased from “Petzicon,” the leading supplier of dog-related products. She is suing the corporation for negligence and the damages caused by the product, citing her dog’s death from toxicity. The plaintiff defended Capella who was claimed to be a negligent owner, while the defense defended “Petzicon.”

South’s Mock Trial Club competed by having junior Aisha Bhoori and senior Ryan Cuddihy testify as the plaintiff’s lawyers while seniors Billy Sansone and Megan Kelly testified as the head defense lawyers.  Witnesses for South’s defense included Anthony Giachetti as the CEO of Petzicon, W. Pat O’Connell, Daniel Schweitzer as the leading chemical engineer at Petzicon, Samuel Stone, and Tori Sarullo as a woman name Val Popinjay who evaluates the monetary value of show-dogs. In addition were the witnesses for South’s prosecution which included Francesca Vaccaro who played Carmen Capella herself, Annabel Lamb as the CEO of the American Accredited Dog Breed Show, Jamison St. Clair, and Matt Platenyk as Dr. Alexander Delani, Sally the show dog’s veterinarian.

Ultimately, due to the Mock Trial Association’s revamped guidelines focusing on strict adherence to the law, a very strict conservative judge, and claims regarding unfair extrapolation, the plaintiff team lost their first round against Allied Health, a reigning champion at this competition for years. After defeating North’s team in a scrimmage earlier in January, South’s defense team beat North during the “rematch” at the actual competition. However, to our dismay, the plaintiff team unfortunately lost by a narrow margin to Wall during the elimination round. While this defeat was disappointing, especially considering how well South was doing during the competition, both Mock Trial teams have still garnered success by setting a precedent for potential victories in years to come.