Mock Trial Team Wins First Competition in Playoffs

beat Upper St. Clair High School in the first round of the playoffs of the Allegheny County Mock Trial Competition March 3.

The WHHS team advanced to the playoffs based on its two wins in the first round of competition.

The team won its first trial against St. Joseph’s High School Feb. 7. Participating team members included Erin Schwogel, Vincent LeDonne, Kimi Moore, Michael Smith and Michaela Buzzard.

Additionally, Schwogel was recognized as the best attorney and Smith was recognized as the best witness. The team represented the plaintiff in this trial.

On Feb. 17, the team won its second trial in the first round against Springdale High School arguing for the prosecution. Team members included Maggie Baker, Miranda Johnston, Alex Howell, Mary Caparosa, Myah Olson and Mitchell Rode.

Baker was recognized as the best attorney and Caparosa was selected as the best witness.

This year, the teams are arguing a fictional civil case involving medical mal-practice. In the case scenario, a doctor extracts cancer cells from a patient to use for research. The patient dies a day later.

A consent form the patient signed is at the center of the legal dispute. The patient’s
family sues the doctor, claiming she wasn’t mentally competent when she signed it, while the doctor maintains that she was.