UMBC Mock Trial 2019-20 Tryout Packet

Welcome to UMBC Mock Trial! We are the most successful speech and debate organization on UMBC’s
campus, and one of the highest ranked Mock Trial programs in the country. We believe strongly that
Mock Trial is the best and most rewarding activity here at UMBC, and we hope you’ll consider
auditioning to join our program. Here are some frequently asked questions:

Q. What is “Mock Trial”?

A. “Mock Trial” is a trial simulation, where students portray each role in a trial and act out a provided fact
pattern. Each mock trial round has twelve participants – six from each team, with each side portraying
three attorneys and three witnesses. Each team presents an opening statement, calls three witnesses, and
makes a closing argument. A trial lasts about 3 hours.

Q. Do I need previous experience in Mock Trial, speech and debate, or public speaking to try out?

A. Absolutely not! While some of our members competed for Mock Trial teams in high school, many had
no experience before auditioning for the team. We evaluate every person independently and no one is
given a spot simply because they did Mock Trial or a related activity in high school or at another college.

Q. Do I need to be interested in law school to join Mock Trial?

A. Not at all! Mock Trial is a great activity if you want to go to law school, but it provides a ton of great
experience for any career path. No matter what you want to do, you’ll have to be comfortable talking to
people, having discussions, and solving problems as a team. Mock Trial is the best place at UMBC to
learn those skills.

Q. When/where do you compete?

A. We compete on weekends at tournaments in really interesting places. This year we’re headed to
Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Duke, and a ton of other fantastic campuses and cities. You’ll do four
trials in a weekend at a tournament – two as the Prosecution and two as the Defense.

Q. What can I do if I have more questions?

A. Email us! You can reach President Ethan Hudson at UMBCMockTrial@UMBC.edu. Send us any
questions you have about the team or the audition process, and Ethan or another member of the executive
board will be happy to answer them. We can’t give you advice on what to put in your tryout, but we can
answer questions about the process and point you in the right direction.

Q. What will my tryout involve?

A. Turn to the next page(s) and find out!

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Basic things to know:

You can try out for two different roles: attorney or witness. You only try out once, so you have to choose
which tryout you want to complete.

If you’re only interested in being an attorney, or if you’d be open to being an attorney or a witness, you
should try out as an attorney. We’ll consider you for both attorney and witness roles.

If you’re only interested in being a witness, you should try out as a witness.

Attorney Tryout Materials

If you choose to try out as an attorney, you will be expected to give a 3-5 minute persuasive speech. This
means that you will give a speech that does two things: educates us on a particular topic, and attempts to
convince us of your position on that topic.

We’ve included a list of suggested topics below. You are welcome to pick something that is not on this
list, but here’s a few tips of guidance:

1. Try to avoid something extremely controversial or divisive. (For example, something like “all
abortion should be illegal” or “sex offenders should be castrated.”) This isn’t the time to take an
extreme stance.
2. Try to pick something you think most people will have at least some passing knowledge about.
For example, avoid something from a TV show or movie that might be obscure and confusing to
most people.

Suggested topics:

● Action on climate change

● Capital punishment (for or against)
● Health care (for/against single payer, how to achieve maximum coverage, etc)
● Dogs or cats (which is better)
● Why one celebrity is correct in their feud with another celebrity
● Why Star Wars is better than Star Trek (or the opposite)
● Why one chain restaurant is the best chain restaurant

For this tryout, we want you to use notes as little as possible. If you feel like you absolutely need your
notes, that’s fine - we won’t prevent you from holding them. But we’re most interested in seeing how you
present and how you show your skill as a public speaker.

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Witness Tryout Materials

This portion of the packet is for people who are trying out as a ​witness.

For your witness tryout, you’re going to be asked questions on ​direct examination.​ This means that a
member of the team will ask you open-ended questions, and your job is to give us the response.

On the next pages, you’ll find two things: 1) a basic fact pattern to follow, 2) the direct examination
questions you’ll be asked, and 3) your witness affidavit. You’re going to be playing a witness named
Corbin Dallas.​ Your job is to write answers to each of the questions, in character.

For the first few questions, you have free reign to invent information. We want to hear you come up with
a creative backstory that develops an interesting character. For the rest of the questions, you should use
the information in your affidavit to answer the questions. ​You don’t need to say what’s in the affidavit
word for word.​ Just use that as a guideline to write the answers the way your character would deliver
them.

The most important part of your witness audition is ​creating a character. ​Here’s what we mean by that.

When you walk in the room, you should be prepared to step into your character. Think of it as more of an
acting audition. As a result you should use things like this to build your character:

● Develop your background. Where were you born? Where did you grow up? Do you still have an
accent or a manner of speaking that is connected to your background?
● Develop your personality. Are you upbeat and bubbly? Are you someone who cracks jokes and
entertains any audience you find? Are you serious and somber? You can decide who you are and
how you present your character to the jury.
● How do you sit? Do you sit up straight and maintain constant eye contact? Are you relaxed and
loose, sitting back in your chair and seeming comfortable? What body language do you carry?

When you do your witness tryout, we want you to try not to use notes. If you absolutely must have a piece
of paper with you, we won’t stop you, but we’re not as concerned with the exact words you say as we are
with how you create your character.

Most importantly: ​be interesting!​ Speak slowly and clearly, and make sure we get to know your character
as much as possible in the few minutes we have with you.

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The facts:

This year’s case is ​State v. Jordan Ryder.​ Jordan Ryder, the defendant, is accused of murdering their
daughter, Parker Paige. (For the purposes of this tryout, Jordan Ryder is a woman.) Jordan Ryder
allegedly took her daughter Parker out camping and then pushed her off the edge of a cliff. You are a
witness for the ​Prosecution.​ Corbin Dallas is Jordan Ryder’s half-sibling, and is testifying for the State
and against Jordan Ryder.

The questions:

1. Hello, Mr./Ms. Dallas. Could you please introduce yourself to the members of the jury?
a. Hi, I’m Corbin Dallas
2. Mr./Ms. Dallas, what do you do for a living?
a. [This is your opportunity to shine. For each of the next several questions, you get to write
the answers. For example, on this answer, tell us what you do. You might be a cook, or a
student, or a nuclear physicist - it’s totally up to you! You don’t have to limit yourself to
the affidavit for background questions.]
3. Can you tell the members of the jury something interesting about yourself?
a. [Get creative - we want to learn about who you are! This can be anything; you don’t have
to limit yourself to what is written in the affidavit for background questions.]
4. How do you know the Defendant, Jordan Ryder?
a. [Your answer goes here.]
5. How would you describe your relationship with Jordan Ryder?
a. [Your answer goes here.]
6. How would you describe Jordan Ryder’s personality?
a. [Your answer goes here.]
7. How did you know the Defendant’s daughter, Parker Paige?
a. [Your answer goes here.]
8. How would you describe the relationship between the defendant and Parker Paige?
a. [Your answer goes here.]
9. I want to talk about July 14, 2018. What do you remember about that day?
a. [Your answer goes here.]
10. I want to talk about July 15, 2018. What do you remember about that day?
a. [Your answer goes here.]
11. Mr./Ms. Dallas, how did you react when you learned that Parker had died?
a. [Your answer goes here.]
12. How did Parker’s death impact your life?
a. [Your answer goes here.]

Thank you. No further questions.

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Affidavit of Corbin Dallas

Parker Paige was not my child; I was just her custodian while my half-sibling, Jordan Ryder, was in
prison. Parker is - was - Jordan Ryder’s daughter.

My parents split when I was an infant. My mom remarried shortly thereafter. Jordan was born right after
my fifth birthday. We were never really that close because of the age difference; well, and because of
Jordan’s temper. Jordan came into this world kicking and screaming and hasn’t stopped raging since. It
was only a matter of time before Jordan hurt someone again. Though I am surprised it ended up being
Parker. Jordan really loved her.

Our parents helped a lot with Parker after Jordan’s spouse, Terry died, and I felt bad for Jordan so I took
Jordan out almost every night—bouncing between bars until they kicked us out for being too drunk or
because Jordan was picking a bar fight with some stranger just for the thrill.

Then Jordan was arrested for domestic violence in 2009. I don’t even remember why we were arguing but
I know Jordan was drunk, and I was definitely drunk. I’m sure it was over something stupid like who
could drink more. Anyways, I mentioned something like “how could anyone ever love you?” I was just
joking but next thing I knew, Jordan’s finger was wagging in my face and Jordan threatened to kill me.
Ace, the bartender, called the cops. I thought Ace had overreacted, so I refused to give a statement and the
charge was ultimately dismissed. At the time I dismissed it all as a simple squabble between siblings.

By June 2012 it was just me and Parker. That year, Jordan was convicted of drug trafficking and money
laundering. The judge sentenced Jordan to 11 years in prison. Before Jordan left, Jordan and I went to a
lawyer and Jordan named me Parker’s custodian. Jordan didn’t want Parker to lose her friends at school
on top of losing a parent—again.

To be honest, I had never wanted to be a parent. And what happened in the summer of 2013 was exactly
why I didn’t. During Jordan’s trial Parker started to have breathing problems and she complained about
pain in her joints. Parker’s health concerns were one of main reasons Jordan wanted me to have custody
of Parker.

Anyways, Parker’s health only got worse once Jordan was gone. I thought it was just depression because
Jordan was in prison or something to do with Parker’s asthma. But then, on the Fourth of July, 2013,
Parker fell while we were walking back to the car after watching the fireworks. Her left leg broke in three
places and she broke her left wrist too. She was seven when the doctor diagnosed her with osteogenesis
imperfecta, also called brittle bone disease. It was the least severe kind, Type I. But it changed our lives
forever. I immediately sent a letter to Jordan to let Jordan know what was going on with Parker.

Parker had always been a happy and active child. But after she was diagnosed with brittle bone disease,
she was too scared to do much of anything. Her recovery process had some setbacks and so we started
racking up the medical bills. It was an extremely hard time for me with only my janitor’s salary. It’s not
like Jordan was able to send money while in prison.

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By the time Parker was eight she had become very hesitant to go outside. I struggled to get her to even
agree to walk to the park that was less than a block away. She cried almost every night and was clearly
depressed.

In early 2018, probably around March, Jordan called from prison. Which was rare because it was really
expensive. Jordan had just left a parole hearing and was really excited. The Board said if Jordan was
declared to be rehabilitated that Jordan would be released in June. I asked if Jordan WAS rehabilitated?
Jordan laughed and made it clear that so long as Jordan could convince Jordan’s social worker, Kai
Washington that Jordan’s anger issues were gone and that living with me and Parker wasn’t going to be a
problem, then an early outdate was guaranteed. It sounded like another one of Jordan’s shortcuts to me.
Then Jordan and I started yelling at each other about my drinking and Parker’s well-being in my care.
Jordan wasn’t wrong to be concerned but I just didn’t want to hear it.

On June 2, 2018, Jordan was released from prison. I don’t remember much of the first few weeks Jordan
was back. June is a total blur to me. Let’s just say I made most of my free time building up my bar tabs
while Parker and Jordan spent their free time getting reacquainted.

On July 13th, Jordan and Parker were supposed to go to some superhero movie. I heard that the movie
was three hours long and declined right away. Instead, I went out with my friends to the bar. We were
drinking there until close. I’m not sure how I got home but I remember waking up around midday on the
14th and nobody was home. My head hurt too much to care where Parker was, but I know no one was
home when I came home the night before and no one was home by the time I passed back out around
1pm.

I woke back up around 7pm on the 14th and went out in search of food. I remember texting Jordan and
Parker asking where they were, and I got no response. I remember thinking about how Parker would get
tired of Jordan soon because it was only a matter of time before the old, angry Jordan showed up. I got
home around 10:30pm. I tried to be quiet. I didn’t want Jordan to get angry about me waking up Parker.
In my effort to be quiet, I didn’t even look to see if Parker was in her bed. I woke up around 6:30am the
next morning to get ready for work. It wasn’t until I was about to leave for work at 7:45am that I realized
Parker wasn’t in her bed and Jordan wasn’t home either. I looked at my phone and saw neither of them
had responded to my texts yet. It had been two days since I had seen or heard from Parker! Finally sober I
realized I could use the “Find my Phone” app and ping Parker’s phone. It pinged her phone at Calkins
Campground! I immediately knew Parker was in danger and called the police to report that Parker and
Jordan were missing.

I’m certain that Jordan killed Parker. But I blame myself too. Maybe if I hadn’t been drunk and high all
the time when Jordan came back, Parker would still be alive. Her death was a wake-up call. I put myself
into rehab and have been completely clean since Jordan was indicted on July 27th, 2018.

I was heartbroken when I found out that Parker died. She was so full of life, and her smile could light up a
room. She deserved a lot better than what she had in life. I miss her.