Mock trial tries students' skills

Brian Foster Arizona Daily Wildcat Junior Lesley Kilgore prosecutes junior Ian McDaniel Friday night during the UA law school's mock murder trial at the Pima County Superior Courthouse. After deliberating for five minutes, the jury found the defendant not guilty.

At the trial, held for the first time in the Pima County Superior Courthouse, University of Arizona Phi Alpha Delta members imitated a reckless homicide trial originally held in South Carolina's Supreme Court.

"This will be a great opportunity to train students with legal skills for law school," said Linda Bandov, a political science senior and Phi Alpha Delta's professional chairwoman.

"It's a good experience for students to do an actual case, in an actual courtroom, with an actual judge," she added. "Many students going into law school don't have this opportunity, and this gives our students the upper hand."

Bruce Chalk, an attorney supervisor with the Pima County Attorney's Office, presided over the mock trial and said the experience will help the UA's mock-trial team.

"The fact that the trial was held in a courtroom gives an aura of believability," he said.

In the mock trial, the fraternity members discussed 18-year-old Mary Robinson's case. She mysteriously died in South Carolina after attending a party.

Robinson, who had a blood-alcohol content of .378 and traces of cocaine in her system, was found dead in her bed the next morning. John Thompson, who had given Robinson a ride home that night and allegedly gave her the cocaine, was tried for reckless homicide.

Both the UA's jury and the South Carolina Supreme Court found Thompson innocent.

Bandov said the UA's mock-trial team, which competed in November at Temple University in Washington, D.C., placed first out of 40 schools.

Because of the team's success, the UA will play host to a regional mock-trial competition April 17-19 with eight other schools from Arizona and California.

"We'll hold another mock trial on March 8 to see who we'll send to the regional competition," Bandov said. For that competition, all of the Superior courthouse's courtrooms will be used.

"They did a nice job," Chalk said about Friday's mock trial. "These students only had a week to prepare, and that's tough."

Phi Alpha Delta, which was founded 10 years ago, is a professional fraternity.

Cobea Becker, a political science senior and Phi Alpha Delta president, said she wishes more pre-law students would join the fraternity. Close to 2,000 pre-law students attend the UA.

The fraternity also offers preparatory classes for the LSAT and helps members prepare personal statements for applying to law school, Becker said.

"This semester's administration is working toward promoting our fraternity into the legal as well as the university's community," said Elizabeth Stadick, a Phi Alpha Delta vice president and criminal psychology junior. "We're attempting to establish our recognition and promote professionalism."