PAS6: State v Bancroft

For the past 6 months, I have been working on the same mock trial case, “The State of Midlands v Avery Bancroft & Chase Covington (I just thought Avery Bancroft would sound cooler as the title). Mock Trial is the only organization that I’ve involved myself with, so far, here at Penn State but I wouldn’t want it any other way. Since I want to be an attorney it has become a great way to practice the rhetorical and logical skills needed for the lsats and law school.

At Penn State mock trial we have different divisions into teams, There originally were 6 teams of about 10 and then about 20 people were cut based on scores and performance in trial and the remaining people were put onto stacked teams based on their ability. So, there are the A, B, C and D team. I am a witness on the B team – which is pretty cool because most of my teammates are upperclassmen and have taught me so much.

As a witness I basically portray certain people in the case either for the defense or the prosecution and help prove their case using in court testimony during direct examination. Further the opposing team has a cross examination to try and refute whatever statements that I make on direct examination. All of the testimony that I bring to court however, must be rooted in a written affidavit that details my witnesses experience in the case and anything that I say that is contradictory to the affidavit makes me eligible for perjury and impeachment as a witness.

So the way the whole trial works is that there are 3 attorneys and 3 witnesses from each side and of course, one side has to be the prosecution and the other is the defense (this is a criminal case). The prosecution side has the choice of of pursuing either of two defendants – Chase Covington or Avery Bancroft – but can only choose one. So every team has to prepare two defenses along with their own prosecution case in chief. Basically it’s like working on 3 separate cases simultaneously.

While prosecuting some say that you have the upper hand, because you get to chose who you want to pursue and the defense team only has about a half hour to prep and further you get first call of witnesses. There are opening statements heard on both sides and and then the prosecution witnesses are called and have direct examination and cross examination followed by the same for the defense witnesses. Lastly there are closing statements. All of this usually lasts about 3 to 3 ½ hours.

Were scored for our believability and skill on direct examination and how well we can evade the opposing counsel on cross examination. Attorneys are scored for the quality of their lines of questioning as well as their rhetorical skills in speech and how well they can refute the opposition’s case.

So with that rudimentary explanation of mock trial, I can now explain the case! Basically, it is a criminal bribery case, in which Avery Bancroft (a business mogul and casino owner) is accused of bribing Chase Covington in exchange for his/her vote in favor of granting a new casino license. Chase Covington is a politician on the gambling commission and is accused of accepting this bribe for his/her vote. However, when running a defense of Avery Bancroft, the defense side is restricted to an entrapment defense – this means that the defense must allege and prove that Avery Bancroft was not predisposed to commit this crime, but rather he/she was coached or set up to do so by the Midlands State Police Department and an undercover officer involved in the case named Mickey Keenan.

From any side, the case is very interesting and there’s always a new perspective to be seen as you face new teams and hear their case theories.

One thought on “PAS6: State v Bancroft

  1. Kait Colen is my RA, so I’ve definitely heard a lot about mock trial. It seems like such an awesome organization, and I’m glad you’ve gotten so much out of it. Definitely not something I’m interested in or good at, so I can appreciate how hard it is. I hope you win your case!

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