The Memorial Student Union's Rincon Room was transformed into a courtroom Friday evening so 14 fraternity members could decide the fate of a teddy bear named Mary.

Mary represented a 2-year-old child torn between her biological and adoptive parents. Whose child Mary would ultimately become was decided Friday at pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta's mock trial.

Members of the fraternity took the roles of respondents, petitioners and witnesses in the case. Richard White, Pima County's Deputy Attorney, presided over the two-hour trial.

"I've done this before," he said, "I think it's fascinating, it makes me feel how it is to be a judge."

The mock trial had all the aspects of a real trial, including witnesses being sworn in, objections, sidebars and recesses.

"(We are) practicing now for the real thing," said Caroline Jacobs, creative writing senior. Jacobs coordinated Friday's mock trial and said the fraternity usually holds two of them each semester.

Jill Trumbull-Harris, communications senior and president of Phi Alpha Delta, said she has taken part in seven mock trials and participation in them is voluntary.

"They are incredibly valuable; they bolster our skills," Trumball-Harris said.

The courtroom skills are something students will use in law school and for the rest of their careers, she said.

Jacobs said high schools and law schools throughout the nation put on mock trials.

The state bar recycles old cases for the purposes of mock trials. Friday's case deciding baby Mary's fate, was based on real custody cases in Arizona, Jacobs said.

The adoptive parents, the petitioners in the case, got custody of Mary in the mock trial.

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