By JACKSON WANG
Executive Editor
The Saint Rose mock trial team competed in the American Mock Trial Association regional tournament held at Boston College last month. The group, named Judge Loretta Preska National Competition Mock Trial Team, registered one win, one tie, and two losses.
“The results were nothing short of remarkable for a second year team,” said coach Alfred Chapleau, who’s also a criminal justice professor at Saint Rose.
Over the course of two days, the mock trial team tried the criminal case, State of Midlands v. Bowman, four times. They narrowly lost to a host team from Boston College, tied Colby College, defeated a team from Amherst College, and had a tough loss to a team from the College of Holy Cross.
The regional tournament consisted of 24 teams primarily from the New England and Boston areas during the Feb. 22nd and 23rd weekend.
During the competition, three Saint Rose students earned scores of 10 for their performance conducting
direct examination of witnesses. Seniors Alex Remillard and Brian Mckeon, along with sophomore Lauren Modezlewski, all registered a perfect score.
Senior co-captain Kim Hansen received a perfect score for her portrayal of one of the defense witnesses. “Competition organizers commented that it was highly unusual for a second year team to turn in such a strong performance,” Chapleau said. Other students taking part in the competition were junior cocaptain Taylor Basford, sophomores Kyle Duclos and Renee VanSlyke, and junior Marissa Schtzel. Along with Chapleau, Renee Merges, a criminal justice professor at Southern Vermont College, and Mike Wetmore, a third year law student at Albany Law School, also helped coach the team.
In preparation for the American Mock Trial Association regional tournament, Saint Rose accepted an invitation to scrimmage the case against the Siena College mock trial team. Siena has had a program for about eight years, and was one of the winners in the Boston Regional Tournament in 2013.
“Although the scrimmage was not officially scored following the case, the unofficial jury returned a verdict in favor of the College of Saint Rose team,” Chapleau said. The case was tried at the Albany Law School before a faculty member. The majority of the practice took place during the fall semester, with final preparations for the national competition going on in the spring semster. The team is named after Loretta
Preska, the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, who also helped the mock trial group set up a fund. Preska is also a 1970 graduate of Saint Rose.
Students interested in applying for a spot on next year’s team can contact Chapleau at Albertus Room 203-1 or via email at chapleaa@strose.edu. Enrollment on the team is limited to ten students, who have to at least be a sophomore
