Allegany High School wins mock trial championship

The Allegany High School mock trial team, along with its coaches, poses with their awards after winning the state championship Friday. Allegany defeated Richard Montgomery of Montgomery County in a trial presided over by Court of Appeals Judge Joseph M. Getty involving a texting-while-driving civil lawsuit. (Courtesy of the Maryland Judiciary)

ANNAPOLIS – Perhaps Court of Appeals Judge Joseph M. Getty should have recused himself from presiding over the championship round of the Maryland 2018 high school mock trial championship, having disclosed after the competition a “personal bias” against texting while driving – the issue at the heart of the hypothetical court case.

The tournament’s final battle Friday pitted Richard Montgomery High School against Allegany High School, with the students from Rockville representing a civics teacher grievously injured in a car crash they argued was caused by a teenage motorist who was texting while driving. The Allegany students, defending the teen driver, said she was not texting and the collision was caused by the teacher, who ran a red light in a bout of confusion or fit of anger after a fight with her boyfriend.

After the hour-and-45-minute mock court case and 30 minutes of judicial deliberation, Getty ruled for Richard Montgomery’s client and then betrayed his bias.

“The issue of texting while driving is severe,” he said, referring to the deaths and grievous injuries that result from the roadway distraction.

The question presented by the case is “very relevant to high school students,” he added.

But, alas, though the verdict in the case went to Richard Montgomery, the championship – which is based on overall presentation – went to Allegany High School by a razor-thin margin. The three judges, Getty and two attorneys, concluded the Cumberland school had won by just a point.

The judges, in rendering their decision, gave strong praise to the opening statements and closing arguments in which the students addressed the critical legal issues in personal injury cases of duty, breach of duty, causation and injury.

Richard Montgomery student Isabella Levine, pressing civics teacher A.C. Slater’s case, said the other driver, Kelly Kapowski, “carelessly and negligently collided with Slater’s car due to being “unlawfully distracted by the use of her cellphone.”

“Numerous text messages were sent and received by the defendant,” Levine argued. “Cellphone use is one of the most dangerous distractions.”

But Allegany High School’s Melissa Magrath, pressing Kapowski’s defense, argued the fault lied with Slater, whom she argued blew through a red light following the fight.

“Emotions blinded her,” Magrath said.

Slater was “emotionally distracted” and did not “devote full time and attention to driving,” Magrath added.

‘Red means stop’

What followed the opening statements were a host of witnesses, portrayed by the students from the school for which they were testifying.

For the plaintiff, Richard Montgomery called up Slater; “Dr. Stacey Carosi,” an expert on car speeds, stopping distances and the effect of distraction; and “Sam ‘Skreetch’ Powers,” a passenger in Kapowski’s car, to testify she was texting while driving.

Allegany, for the defense, called up Kapowski; “R. Belding,” the first police officer on the scene; and “Zach Morris,” a witness to the collision.

Their testimony and its cross-examination was impressive for both sides, resulting in what Getty would later describe as “a jump ball” of a case.

(The names of the parties and witnesses in the mock trial should be familiar to viewers of “Saved by the Bell,” which focused on high school students, initially ran from 1989 to 1992 and remains in syndication.)

In closing arguments, however, Allegany student Clay Hoover said the case is “just not that complicated,” adding it comes down to the basic driving rule that “red means stop.”

Slater, fresh from her lovers’ quarrel, “failed to keep this frustration and anger from blinding her,” Hoover said. “She drove straight through a red light.”

Lucia Jiang, of Richard Montgomery, countered that Kapowski had been quoted as saying “my whole life is on my phone,” which she was in fact on when she went through the red light.

Kapowski “failed to give full time and attention to her driving,” Jiang added.

Richard Montgomery’s spirited presentation fell just short of Allegany’s in the collective minds of Getty and competition judges Sara H. Arthur and Felipe Gonzalez.

“You put practicing attorneys to shame,” Arthur, president of the Maryland State Bar Association, told the participants from both schools. “You knew the case. You knew your strengths. You knew your weaknesses.”

‘No losers’

Arthur, of Arthur Law Group LLC in Annapolis, also praised the tournament for teaching the students “to stand their ground and make their points.”

She added, “There are no losers in this room today.”

Gonzalez said he had advised his fellow public defenders in Anne Arundel County to attend what he had correctly expected would be a lesson in lawyering from high-school students. However, none of his colleagues showed.

Getty complimented the students on their demeanor and said he has served as a judge for many law school moot courts.

“They are not as prepared as you were today,” Getty added.

Brian White, Allegany’s coach, called the victory “really satisfying” for the school, which after more than 90 years will be moving into a new building in the fall.

Richard Montgomery’s coach, Dan Evans, called the defeat “a good lesson for life: You win some; you lose some.”

The annual Maryland State Bar Association Statewide High School Mock Trial Competition, which began in 1983, is sponsored by the Baltimore-based Citizenship Law Related Education Program, a nonprofit organization that backs programs to teach students about the law and judicial system.

This year’s competition began last fall with scores of schools across the state, according to organizers. That number eventually dwindled to a final four: Centennial High School in Ellicott City, James M. Bennett High School in Salisbury, Allegany and Richard Montgomery.

The semifinals were held Thursday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court in Annapolis.