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< Back ANJANI SHAH Student, Brooklyn Law "I stand here, because I want the jury to see me and my reactions. And you, as the witness, are now looking at me and not them. That has quite an effect on the jury as well, when you're diverting your eyes away from them." Previous Next

< Back Episode 9 9. Survive and Advance Air date: July 26, 2022 Adria is a fan of the philosopher Nick Saban, the decorated coach of the Alabama football team. She and Judge Kern Reese want their team to stay focused, be clear and concise. Tight. She sends her team to an invitational in Houston to see who is ready for the big time in the spring. The results are mixed. Back home in New Orleans, the team rallies and punches their ticket to the Regional Championship. Learn more about the schools, programs and special guests: Dillard University Pre-Law Program American Mock Trial Association National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA) National Bar Association Follow us on Twitter @ClassActionPod and Instagram @ClassActionPod Visit our show page for transcripts and more details about the series at ClassActionPod.com Follow host Katie Phang on Twitter @KatiePhang and Instagram @KatiePhang . TRANSCRIPT Katie Phang [narration]: Class action is a production of iHeartRadio and Sound Argument. Dillard University is about to embark on an exhausting run of three competitions in their quest to punch their ticket to the national tournament. It’s the same old arson case – a bar called Chuggies is torched – a firefighter dies, and the owner tries to collect the insurance money. Coach Adria Kimbrough and students Amaya Ronczyk, DeAndre K. Bell, Lajeanne Shelton, and Caitlin Douglas narrate this story. This is Episode 9: Survive and Advance [Dillard University Mock Trial Team inside courtroom prior to opening round of competitions.] [Music – inspirational piano and strings] Lajeanne Shelton: Okay. This is, I did this chant, I think people who were on my team for Houston, remember? Yeah, I pulled y'all outside and I made y'all do this chant. Dillard Mock Trial Group: Yeah, we loved it. Lajeanne Shelton: About this team. So I just want y'all to repeat after me and keep the beat like I know we can. Okay. Just repeat after me is a very simple repeat after me. This team. Best team. Strong team. [Leading chant] Dillard Mock Trial Group: This team. Best team. Strong team. [Following chant] Lajeanne Shelton: I love my team! [Leading chant]. Dillard Mock Trial Group: I love my team! [Following chant]. Lajeanne Shelton: [Leading cheer] Who you, who you rolling with? Dillard Mock Trial Group: D! Lajeanne Shelton: [Leading cheer] And what’s the rest? Dillard Mock Trial Group: U! [cheers and applause] Adria Kimbrough: So the season is still shaping up for us. We have commitments already at competitions. One will be the University of Alabama. Pace University in New York. The University of Houston, which is a great competition. Sterling Bond: Sterling. Yeah. Producer: Dinners at your house tonight, right? Sterling Bond: Yes. Yes. It's at my, my cousin's house. When I knew it was Houston and I knew was this week. I was like, yes, we're going to, we're going to eat good food. One of these days, we're going to have some good homemade food with my family and we're going to have fun. [Team Group Singing] Adria Kimbrough: So, today is going well. We are having an opportunity to test some things out. Also having an opportunity to give some of our newer members a chance to get more experience. [Team Group Singing] [Singing 00:02:30] Adria Kimbrough: I hate to say it like this, but it's almost like a Varsity JV model that happens in the spring where you put your very best, your, your best experience, talented people, all on one team, almost like a warrior class. If you will, like an All-Star team because you want to give yourself the best shot to make it to the championships. Some of our lesser experienced people are going to be on the team by themselves in the spring. So they're not going to have, you know, the Amaya's, the Lajeanne's, the DeAndre's with them to kind of help hold them up. [Beginning of Round 1 of tournament] Judge: All right, Defense, call your first witness. Dillard Defense Team: We would like to call Skylar Dejonne. DeAndre K. Bell: I'll be playing the role of a witness specifically for this round, I'll be Skylar Dejonne. It's going to be an interesting witness because we're trying out a new theory. We are contending that somebody else did it, that somebody being me. And so I have to play it off like I didn't do it, but I really know what happened, but it's going to be fun. I'm excited. DeAndre K. Bell: Good morning, everyone. My name is Skylar Dejonne. Dillard Defense Team: And what do you, what do you do for a living? DeAndre K. Bell: Well at heart, I am a thespian. I could play many roles. I can be happy. I can be sad. I can be holier than thou. And of course I can be a little evil too, if you, you know. Dillard Defense Team: So you don't like Dakota? DeAndre K. Bell: Not at all. Absolutely. I mean, she made bad business decisions, including what she did to me, the renovations were terrible. Everything that Dakota did really messed things up. Prosecution Team: And like you said, prior to you saw her walking to the firehouse. DeAndre K. Bell: Yes. Prosecution Team: And that's what made you certain that it was Ms. Sutcliff that you saw. DeAndre K. Bell: Well, I know for a fact it was her. I mean, it was her bar, her business. She'll be the only one there at the time with the exception of me, because you know, I know how to move around. Prosecution Team: That's exactly right Mr. Dejonne, you knew it was her because she's the only firefighter that you know, that is connected to Chuggies and the firehouse. DeAndre K. Bell: Well, I wouldn't say the firefighting part was really what gave me the ammunition. I needed to know that it was her. But like I said, when I followed her to the building, followed her out of the building, that kind of thing. I, it made sense. Yes. I was able to tell that she was a firefighter. [Team gathers in hallway after Round 1] Aubri: My name is Aubri. DeAndre K. Bell: How do you feel about the last round? Aubri: I feel really confident about the last round. DeAndre K. Bell: Your closing was amazing. You know that. Aubri: Thank you. Thank you. DeAndre K. Bell: No, like it I'm being so serious. The judge's comments did, did it know Justin? Like he said some good stuff, but like, I'm very proud of your closing. Aubri: Thank You. Thank you. Thank you. I tried. Well, thanks to you and Amaya you and Amaya. All thanks to y'all. DeAndre K. Bell: The amount of improvement you've shown since like the very first time you gave her clothing. Like when I say exponential, like no, the way you told the story, like I saw you make the adjustments that I suggested last night and it was, it was, it was well done. Aubri: Thank you. A’Nya Okay. I know earlier I said I was really nervous to the point of crying, but like after I went through my first direct, no, no, it was my first cross. I was like so excited. Like I felt so comfortable and I was like, I'm ready to do it again. Amaya: The Annihilator. DeAndre K. Bell: Yes. We've given her a line name. This is the Annihilator speaking. [DeAndre inside car with producer Kevin Huffman driving around the city of New Orleans] DeAndre K. Bell: Because of Katrina, like some of my best friends in Houston are from New Orleans. And you know, we see a lot of New Orleans elements and a lot of things that people in Houston do because so much of Houston's population are people who are displaced, you know, from New Orleans. My dad is the founding minister, the pastor at Joy Cathedral in Houston, Texas. You know, people already know who he is, especially in the church. Everyone knows who he is. [Producer Jason Foster and Sound Engineer Davis Land drive to and walk up to the home of DeAndre Bell Sr. and family in Houston, Texas] DeAndre Bell Sr.: All of them are here. Yes. They're here. Good morning gentlemen. Jason Foster: Good morning. DeAndre Bell Sr.: How's it going? Hello? I'm doing well. How about yourself? DeAndre Bell is my name. Jason Foster: Jason Foster. DeAndre Bell Sr.: Nice to meet you, sir. Nice to meet you. Davis Land: Davis Land. DeAndre Bell Sr.: Good morning. Deandre Bell is my name, sir. Davis Land: Nice to meet you. DeAndre Bell Sr.: Come on in. Jason Foster: Thank you for having us. DeAndre Bell Sr.: Yes, sir. Let's walk through the kitchen, we have to make shift. Excuse me. Just follow me. Good. Make shifts since we are still in the COVID environment, I still don't feel comfortable, meeting face to face in worship. Jason Foster: How long is your service, usually? DeAndre Bell Sr.: I start at 10:59 and we're normally done by 11:35. My wife will start playing behind the curtain and then my son and my daughter will give me directions on time and we'll hit record play. And that's it. [music, keyboard piano, inspirational and calming church sermon] What time is sweetie? Okay, sweetie. I'm going live. [DeAndre Bell Sr. begins online church sermon in front of a camera to his members] DeAndre Bell Sr.: I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continue to be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear that rub and be glad, oh, magnified the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. We're grateful and thankful to God that he has allowed us this another day, another hour, another privilege and another opportunity that we might gather before his presence to call upon his holy and righteous name. I'm grateful and thankful to God that you have decided... DeAndre Bell Sr.: We were still in our first home. And so Deandre was two years old. He grabs a microphone, and he starts screaming. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And his mother says Deandre, you're going to be horse. So he screams and he's preaching. And yes, it is because he was screaming Jesus so much, he lost his voice. He put his microphone down, drank out of his sippy cup. Then put the sippy cup down, picked his microphone back up and he started continuing. DeAndre's Mother: He did. DeAndre Bell Sr.: He did so, yes. DeAndre's Mother: He's always been very intelligent. We call him wise beyond his years just because if you hold a conversation with him, even I will have to tell him, okay, dumb that down a little bit. You know, use layman terms with me. I'm your Mama, use layman terms. And so, but he's always been that kid. DeAndre Bell Sr.: Deandre is just, he's just always a character. He's always been a character. DeAndre Bell Sr.: I hear music over my head. I hear music. There must be a God somewhere. And even if your instrument has gotten down to only one string, if you can still make music, you can still rejoice because of what God has done for you. Granted brothers and sisters, our lives may not line up with the direction that we think they should line up, but all in all you and I should be able to rejoice that God has given us another chance to get it right. DeAndre K. Bell: He wanted to be a lawyer. My dad wanted to go to law school and he was called to preach instead. And it was crazy because over the past summer he said, “DeAndre, it's amazing to me how I couldn't do what I wanted to do, but God has led you to do the thing, the kind of things that I want to do. And not only that you've been led to not only be a lawyer, but to preach as well. So now you are doing twofold the things that I am doing.” [DeAndre leads team prayer before the next tournament round in hallway next to courtroom] DeAndre K. Bell: Father God, you've given each of us a distinct and succinct talent father, God, you've given us each an element of this case that we can argue to the best of our abilities, so we thank you, father. God, we thank you for the objections. The rules of evidence, the case, the witnesses, the attorneys, the openings, the closings, the directs, the crosses. We thank you, father God for putting these words in our minds and our hearts and in our souls, Father God, so that we may not only show them who we are, but show them who you are, Father God, you have made this team. All that. It is Father God. So we thank you once more, Father God, if there's anything I forget to ask, please, don't neglect an answer. And in Jesus’ name. We pray. Amen. Group: Amen. [Outside, streets of New Orleans during Homecoming weekend for Dillard University. Sounds of marching band drum line, crowds gathering and cheering, announcements over PA speakers] Nick Harris: So today we are celebrating Dillard University Homecoming parade. And so we all excited about us, our first parade for the season. When I say season, I mean the last two years, you know, because the COVID, everything was canceled. So we have a big parade in celebrating the coming back of Gentilly, coming back to the city of New Orleans and all the kids coming in. [more sounds of marching band drumline going by, crowd cheers] [The team gathers inside the Orleans Parish Courthouse to prepare for a virtual tournament, prepping the room] Lajeanne Shelton: Excuse me, Judge Reese? Judge Kern Reese: Yes, ma'am. Lajeanne Shelton: So sorry to interrupt. Is the Wi-Fi password the same with the @ sign? Judge Kern Reese: An @ sign? Caitlin Douglas: We're definitely still practicing. We had to adjust because of Homecoming week events. So we're having an extended three-hour practice tonight. So we're still doing the work. Renee Simien: This weekend is our regionals tournament. Unfortunately it was put online due to COVID 19, but this is the tournament that decides if our season is over or not, basically. If we make it past this, we'll go to like nationals and stuff like that. I'm kind of bummed because I really wish it would've been in person, but it is a lot of pressure now because like, this is my last shot at it. Amaya: She's going to switch out with you. Renee: Okay. I'm confused. Switch out. What y'all mean? Amaya: Like, you know how on defense? You're on. You're on defense and Taylor. [crosstalk 00:12:56] So can Taylor use yours? Renee: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought you meant like switch out computer . Amaya: No. Oh no. DeAndre, please tell me you got the prelaw computer. Okay. DeAndre K. Bell: I definitely did, in my bag. Renee: Where's the clip. Let me help put it together. Producer Jason Foster: What are you guys doing right now? Amaya: We are putting together ring lights so that we can have good lighting for the competition. I'm excited because we're ready to, we're ready to kick some behind. Adria: Can someone test screen sharing please? Amaya: That's it. The defense is ready to proceed, your Honor. Judge: Please. Amaya: First, your Honor, I would like to acknowledge that Dakota Sutcliffe is constructively present throughout trial today and is constructively wearing a red tie. Judge: Okay. Amaya: Second, your Honor, I'm entering a character evidence form, which both parties have signed in the chat. Adria Kimbrough: In terms of the level of experience collectively. This is the most experienced team that we've had. And so this is our very best chance to make it back to the championship. And I like our chances. I was talking to some of them, even today. I was like, well, it's our last rodeo like this, this is it. And I would very much like for them to experience that joy. I mean, you think about you do all this work, this, all this excitement around, you know, a piece of plastic, essentially this trophy that you get, but it represents so much more than that. Particularly for those students who have been on this team all four years of their college experience, it represents such a huge part of their dealer experience. They've invested a lot of time, energy and effort in an activity that they get no academic credit for. They don't get paid for it. They've invested a tremendous amount. And I would just love for them to be able to have the experience of making it to the championship before they leave here. Amaya Ronczyk: So I'm a senior, I'm actually applying to law school right now. I made this document when I was 19 years old. I'm 21 now. Before there were like maybe 80 schools on here and I've researched every single one until I was able to narrow it down to 15. Okay. So in this document, I've listed the institution, the rank of the institution. It was important to me that I had some institutions that could take me anywhere I wanted to go. And then I have these schools in green because my pre-law advisor thought that I should look into them to see my chances of getting a full-ride scholarship. So that's why I have those highlighted. But as far as the schools that I'm applying to in one category, as far as where I think I could get the most money is Fordham, Texas A&M, Northeastern, University of Miami, St. Johns and Howard. All of those have great financial aid programs based on my score. And they also have a wide variety of individuals that look like me. I think the diversity is great at the schools. They have great clinics, and I would be happy going to either of them. NYU has this great clinic by Bryan Stevenson who runs it. And they do a lot of death penalty work, capital punishment cases. And after reading his book Just Mercy and realizing how, how we treat people involved in the criminal justice system, specifically, those who were given the death penalty or on death row, I was really able to connect with it and not only see the humanity and the people that he was talking about, but I wanted to introduce that concept into the legal field. Even though there are empathetic lawyers, I don't think there are enough. People always say, well, how can you defend these types of people, or these types of people deserve this. And it's really not that simple. So I would love to learn more from him. And plus NYU is I think the highest ranked criminal law program in the country, so. As far as the schools that I think can open the most doors are going to be Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, NYU, Georgetown, UT Austin, Boston university, University of Southern California, and Emory. All of those schools happen to rank very highly when it comes to placing students in federal clerkship after law school, which is a big deal. That's something that I'm interested in. And I want the door to be open for me if I decide to walk through it. But my personal statement is mainly about a time in my life, where I felt that my voice wasn't being heard or that I was suppressing my feelings and how through mock trial, I was able to not only find my voice, but realize what I wanted to do now that I regained it. Let me try to find a good part. Okay. Here's one paragraph I can read. ‘That same day I signed up for something called mock trial. Thinking I would learn a few things about speaking effectively. I began sitting in the back of practices and watching the student lawyers argue their cases. My coaches didn't let that fly for too long. They insisted I lead strategy discussions and present every side of the case until I knew the facts of the story like it were my own. The courtroom became the place where I felt the most comfortable. I learned that being a litigator isn't about the objections you make or how smart you sound. It's about the stories you tell.’ [team gathered in courtroom during break, some singing “Keep your eyes on the prize,” others are chatting] Amaya Ronczyk: I can catch a beat, but staying on it, that's another story. Adria Kimbrough: I just want to, I'm feeling a lot of pride in this, in this setup right now. I do that. Amaya Ronczyk: Okay. I'm going to try to do this without crying. No, I was just telling Ms. Frison and some others that my freshman year on the team. Ooh. I just remember being super nervous and just wanting to cry because I just didn't think I was ready. And then the tears that I have today is not from that place. I'm not anxious at all. I'm excited and I'm proud of each and every one of y'all and the growth that I've seen on the team. Like I'm not even I'm, [crying] I'm here to show up one last time for you guys at regionals. But no, I know that it's been stressful. There's been tension on the team. There's been, you know, times where some of us wanted to quit. And, and I didn't, I didn't mean to look at nobody in particular, but you know, I'm, I'm just really excited for where you guys are at right now. And I can't wait to come back and be able to judge one of y'all's rounds and just to see how far y'all have come. [crying] Okay. That's it. That's it. But let's, let's go in there and kick butt and let's just win and do what we came here to do. Lajeanne Shelton: Happy Black History month, y'all! We got the ancestors with us! [Online competition begins] Amaya Ronczyk: Hello, your Honor. My name is Amaya Ronczyk and alongside my co-counsel Deandre K bell II. DeAndre K. Bell: Hello, your Honor. Amaya Ronczyk: And Reneé Simien. Reneé Simien: Hello, your Honor. Amaya Ronczyk: We proudly represent Dakota Sutcliff in this matter. Amaya Ronczyk: And you don't know what debris or evidence they moved away from Jaylen. Witness: No, I'm not aware I was outside. Amaya Ronczyk: And you also didn't interview these officers after your investigation, did you? Witness: No. Amaya Ronczyk: You also didn't require them to write a report about what debris was removed. Other Team: Your Honor, relevance and lack of [inaudible 00:20:46] Amaya Ronczyk: Objection, your Honor to facts. Not in evidence or testifying to facts, not in evidence. Judge: Can you explain your objection? Amaya: Yes, your Honor. Opposing counsel is eliciting information, hearsay information from an article that has not yet been entered. Judge: Okay, take a five-minute break. [team prepares for DeAndre’s closing in the courtroom] Lejeanne Shelton: Okay. I got to get ready to help him turn off the lights. [runs across to other side of room] I'm going to go stand in my spot. Do you want him to get on yours? Amaya: Okay. Do the tester. DeAndre, get back in the room and you... Lejeanne Shelton: Go get in the back of the room. I have to switch the lights off. DeAndre: Turn the lights off real quick. Lejeanne Shelton: Deandre has a little demonstrative he does for his closing because the whole contention is that the witnesses, they bought to make an identification possibly couldn't have made it because they claim somebody in a black, in all black with a black hoodie, pulled up at a three force angle with a lights off is obviously this person. So he's going to go 50 feet away with a black hoodie on and we're going to turn the lights off. Producer Jason Foster: So is this a, this a hail Mary? Lajeanne Shelton: It, it very much is a Hail Mary. DeAndre K. Bell: Your Honor, opposing counsel members of the jury at the beginning of today's trial, you heard my co-counsel come before you and tell you that the prosecution did not wait for the smoke to clear. And now by the end of trial, you've seen that before the smoke of the Chuggies fire was able to dissipate before a clear picture of what actually happened on July 31st was made prevalent before a thorough investigation was completed. The prosecution rushed to try and convict my client Dakota Sutcliff of aggravated arson. And so don't believe it. [he walks towards the back of the room] Wait for the smoke to clear because had the prosecution waited for the smoke to clear, they would've understood that a figure standing not five, not 10, not 15, not 20, not 30, not 40, but 50 feet away standing at a three-quarter angle with a hoodie on their hood raised up and the lights off would've rendered a verdict in today's case of not guilty. Amaya: We're good. Lajeanne: We're good? Amaya: We're good. [applause] I'm loving it. Team Competitor: [via Zoom] Yes, your Honor. [Team gathered and reacting after DeAndre’s closing] Group: Yes, indeed! Yes, indeed. Female Voice 1: I told Ms. Frison I said, I hate that question, but he loves it. Female Voice 2: Just like this. He went better. Female Voice 1: Oh no. He, he ate that up. Group: [crosstalk 00:24:31] [laughter] Female Voice: I'm so glad that like, Female Voice: That was good. That was good. That was way. Renee: We also kept our cool. I think that's so you did that's progress. Adria: That's real. That's real progress for the team. That's really that's real progress for the team growth because it's growth because certainly like the trial was great, but the fact that y'all were unflappable, like that's progress. Cause y'all know how we do. I said, you see this judge is not here for objection arguments. You see this other team is not really objecting at all. Like I hope we sense the temperature in the room and adjust. And I think we did. Christina Watkins News Anchor: [from archival TV report WDSU Channel 6 NBC News New Orleans “Dillard University receives bomb threat” ] Historically black colleges and universities across the country have been the target of several bomb threats. This year, Dillard university in New Orleans is the latest HBCU to get a bomb threat. Leaders say several law enforcement agencies were called in this morning and they're investigating where this threat came from. Stay with us here at WDSU. As we continue to get updates on this developing story. Producer Jason Foster What do think about all these bomb threats? Caitlin Douglas: Oh God, the fact it's happening around black history month. Lajeanne Shelton: Right? Very much terrorist. It's giving Klan now knows how to use the internet. It's giving he's we can't burn crosses anymore, but we can sure. Use a telephone it's giving new Grand Wizard is a young person. Caitlin Douglas: Shut up, because that's very much true. Lajeanne Shelton: No. Do you think they follow Robert’s Rules of Order at they meetings? They was like, somebody was like, okay, we have a motion on the floor to do these seven schools this week. Can, can I. Caitlin Douglas: Get a second? Lajeanne Shelton: Can I get a second point of order? Yes, I Grand Wizard recognizes Brother Jeffrey. Caitlin Douglas: Next point of business. I'm going to be honest. We've been getting bomb threats probably since I was in middle school. Come on now. Like. Lajeanne Shelton: It's very much getting old white supremacists need to find something new. Caitlin Douglas: At this point, if I get bombed, I'm going to heaven. Caitlin Douglas: I've had very racist experience. My first racist experience in Shreveport was in the fourth grade at the elementary school. My grandmother was a cafeteria manager at, and the teacher was going around in the circle asking if everybody what their nicknames were and my nickname is K.K. in my household. And so I said, my nickname's K.K. And of course she made a joke about the KKK, me. Yes, she did in front of a room full of Black children. And I went home laughing about it. Cause I was a kid I didn't know about the KKK in the fourth grade, you know? And so I go home and tell them the joke, nobody's laughing and they have to sit me down and talk to me about racism. [video call with Caitlin and her grandmother, Carlois Douglas] Caitlin Douglas: Hey Granny! Turn your, turn your screen down some, Ladybug. Down. Down. Yeah. Perfect. Perfect. Just like that, like that. Carlois Douglas: Okay. Okay. My name is Carlois Douglas and I am Caitlin Douglas’ grandmother. The neighborhood I grew up in was, it was good. It was basically, I guess, more like a family oriented, different family living in that little neighborhood, the little, small neighborhood, and everybody got along. We went to school together and most of them, you know, after they grew up finished high school, they just left and went to different states. Caitlin Douglas: I was attached to her hip all the time. That's my best friend right there. She knows. She's amazing. She's very protective, very supportive. She's the matriarch of our family. And you know, you guys, y'all are talking to an angel right now, so I need y'all to cherish the moment and absorb it because she is literally the reason why I'm still on the earth. You know? I talked to her as I got older about during that time, I was having suicidal thoughts as a kid, you know? And it's hard to talk with her about it. Not because she doesn't want to talk about it, but because it's like she wanted to protect me. Carlois Douglas: She ended up her mother ended up transferring her over to the school where I worked at. And by me working there, they would bring her to me. And I'm like, Caitlin, what are you doing? And she would tell me this and that because Caitlin's real smart. And I think that was probably. [crying] Jason Foster: That's okay. Take your time. Carlois Douglas: Okay. And that was basically, and that was, that was basically it. Caitlin Douglas: Before I came to school to Dillard to like finish my Bachelor's. I found all my grandmother and my mom kept very thorough records and documented it, all the encounters I ever had in elementary school, they kept them. And so I sat in the bathroom with the door, closed at my grandma's house and I start reading it and I just start crying. Like I just, I just was crying and controlled me because I just, I never understood why kids were so cruel to me. Carlois Douglas: And she was good. And she grew up to be Caitlin. She just kept going. She never stopped. She never gave up. I believe she's going to become that attorney and she's going to be good at defending other people. And she's going to always stand out for what she believes in. Caitlin Douglas: I am heavily involved in activism back home in Shreveport, Louisiana. Like we just had a police chief step down resign at thank god, after god knows how long. We were protesting in solidarity for George Floyd. But we were really protesting for Tommie McGlothen Jr., Wavey Austin , Dante Shabell, these people who had been either killed in police custody or murdered and no justice had been solved. Like, you know what I mean, in Shreveport and making sure that people understood that the issues you see on television are happening right now at, at the local level. Caitlin Douglas: [via archival video from community protests in Shreveport, Louisiana] The city of Shreveport faces its own issues with police brutality. Therefore, We the People wish to create policies that encourage accountability within the street port police department, make sure they serve and protect citizens and ultimately create a better working relationship between the police government and the public. [cheers and applause] They serve to construct and implement a citizen's review board that is independent from the police department to handle any investigations of crimes involving law enforcement. Whenever harmful methods are employed. [cheers and applause] To require SPD applicants to test for implicit racial bias, the creation and implementation of a good neighbor policy, which will create immunity for anyone who saves a human being from, but not limited to being put, being pummeled assaulted or murdered by the police in accordance with Warren V District of Columbia and the duty to rescue doctrine. [cheers and applause] We encourage you to accept this challenge and show the world the power we have when we stand as one and fight for justice for all. [cheers and applause] Caitlin Douglas: My grandmother is the person that I can always go to. She really instilled in me what equity is, what equality is and how nobody deserves to be mistreated. Everybody deserves to be treated with love and respect. And so, you know, Granny, thank you for that. I really love you, from the bottom of my heart. You always know. I always tell you everything I do is because of you and our family and what our family means to us, so. I love you and thank you. Carlois Douglas: I love you too. [team gathered before next round of competition] Sterling Bond: I think it, I think it was really good yesterday. I think yesterday was nice. I got called charming by an old white man. I was like, okay, cool. I don't know how to feel about this, but that was nice. I think, I think yesterday, yesterday went pretty good. Adria Kimbrough: So, you know, I was telling DeAndre this. I said, I think round three tells us a lot. So the team is going blind this weekend. You probably know this cause I'm sure you've asked how are y'all doing? And nobody knows the answer. We went against the University of Pennsylvania, fine school with a very competitive mock trial team. Even their B team is competitive regularly makes it to the championship. And so what that tells us is that was at, that was the level of competition where we were at this point in the regionals this weekend. So, so I'm just saying let's, we're not going to lay down on Round Four. It's too, it's too important. It could be. It could be the thing that makes a difference. [next round of competition] Lajeanne Shelton: Your evidence will show that as Chuggies burned and smoldered, the defendant watched as their financial burdens disappeared with the smoke in the air. And as the prosecution, we believe that in order to uphold the integrity of our great city, we must hold the defendant accountable for their actions. Imagine with me, if you will, you are on your way to this very courtroom today, and you are about to step up off your porch. You look down to the ground and you see that it is wet. There are water droplets on your car, there are water droplets on the grass and the sky is gray. Now because of that evidence, you don't have to pull out your phone to check the weather just to see it has just rained. You can reasonably conclude it has. You can apply that scenario to this very case today. DeAndre K. Bell: Ladies and gentlemen, this was an unreliable investigation. And to top it all off, Detective Weber came to the stand and told you that all of this was unnecessary. Lajeanne Shelton: Your Honor, at this time, we would like to publish exhibit seven E which has already been pre entered into evidence to the jury. This is a report from the Five-Point Mutual Insurance who owns a fire policy, taken out by the defendant stating on August 2nd, the day after the fire, the defendant filed a claim for the $1.5 million and they thus denied the claim and relating to this exact exhibit. We would like to point the court's attention to state... [team gathered after round] Amaya Ronczyk: I just wanted to say y'all. I know we were frustrated for Round 2. We were frustrated for Round 3, but now it was like a new trial. We put that behind us. I know as a leader, sometimes it's hard for me to stuff my feelings down and be like, no, we still got this. And y'all obviously saw me break down, Ooh, during the break. But you know, I'm human or whatever, or whatever. And I just, I think my main thing is not because we did bad or that it was like something that I'm like, I'm doubting you or anything, but it's really, I just want to see that everything that we worked for really plays out the way that it should. And I know I annoyed a lot of y'all this year. I was hounding y'all. I was asking y'all to do things y'all didn't want to do, but I think it was for the greater good. I know it was for the greater good. And I think that it's time to lay it all out on the table for this last round, I have full confidence that we can take both ballots. So I'm trying not to cry, because, like, I did spend an hour on my makeup, but just keep that in mind when there's an objection battle. When another attorney is winning and you're not when a judge doesn't seem like she's invested to be here, keep that in mind because our, our purpose is greater. We're here to get 10 points on everything we do. So with that being said, DeAndre, if you could just do a quick little prayer and then we could get started. DeAndre K. Bell: All right, bow your, close your eyes. Father come to us now. Once again saying thank you, father, God, thank you for bringing us thus far. Now I ask for your strength, your guidance, your resilience, and your love, your passion, your faith Father God. So that we use all of that in this last round. Give us the openings, give us the closings. Give us the victory and all that we seek to do Father God for we declare victory right now in the name of Jesus, father, God, we declare going horse. We declare going to nationals right now. And so I ask that you make it so, father God in the name of Jesus there's anything I forget to ask, please, don't neglect answering for in your darling son we pray. Amen. Group: Amen. [end of Round continues] Judge: Okay, we're going to go ahead with closing arguments, Ms. Ronczyk, is that how you pronounce it? Amaya Ronczyk: Yes, your Honor. Judge: Okay. Why don't you go ahead. Amaya Ronczyk: May it please the court, opposing counsel members of the jury on August 1st, 2020, detective Weber responded to a call that Chuggies Bar and Restaurant was on fire. He learned that this bar belonged to the defendant and was insured for $1 million. And these damages that we've shown you today, show you exactly how that fire erupted. We learned that the defendant burned his own, build, her own building for money. But to burn a building for money is a crime here in Midlands, a crime called aggravated arson and every witness we brought to you and every piece of evidence we've shown you was to prove that the defendant is the woman who committed this crime. We had to prove three elements to you. One that the defendant committed an act of arson with the purpose to defraud. Two, that defendant acted knowingly and three that the defendant created a substantial risk of serious physical harm to emergency personnel Jaylen Williams. We had to prove these three things to you beyond a reasonable doubt, which basically means that by the end of this trial, if you can reasonably conclude that the only person who did this crime was the defendant, then we've done our job. They want you to forget that their family is counting on us to do what's just, they want you to forget that their family wakes up every single day, hoping that they'll see their son again, that they want to believe that this is all a dream. That they cry at the thought of someone else taking over his locker or his seat at the dinner table. Members of the jury, the real victim is not here today. The villain in today's case is the defendant. The defendant is the person with the plan. The defendant is the person with the motive. The defendant is the person who the day after the fire with not even enough time to mourn their business, requested that 1.5 million in full. Members of the jury, do what's just in today's case, we've done our job. We've proven these elements to you beyond a reasonable doubt. So now it's your time, your moment to do what's right in today's case. And to show the defendant that when they burn their building, they can't get away with it. We must hold them accountable, find them guilty. Thank you. Judge: Thank you, counsel. [team gathers after Amaya’s closing] Lajeanne Shelton That's what I'm talking about. Judge Kern Reese: It was so good. Oh my God. It was so good. You couldn't ask for anything better. Whoo! [applause] Adria Kimbrough: The best closing ever like that you have ever done, like ever like what a way to go out. Oh my God. The best ever. And look what they are like you cross the – [crosstalk] It was beautiful. I mean just like perfect. It really was. DeAndre K. Bell: She said I'm crying, but it just sounds like I’m laughing. [crying] [Competition hosts announce winners of the tournament via Zoom] Competition Host Female Voice: It's time to announce our bids. Ben, do you want to start us off? Ben: Happily. The team with the first bid out of regional one A. Had a record of 8 wins. 1092 UABC . [cheers and applause] Competition Host Female Voice: With 7 wins, A CS of 19 and a [inaudible 00:41:32] plus 46 team 1487, Dartmouth College. [cheers and applause] Ben: The CS of 16 and a half and a PD of plus 38 team 1213, Pennsylvania B. [cheers and applause] Competition Host Female Voice: Our first team with six wins with a CS of 16-1/2, a PD of plus 39 team 1216, Dillard . Group: [team fills room with cries, cheers, and shouts of joy] Oh my god! Oh! Yes! Oh my god! You did it! Oh, lord Jesus! Oh my god. We did it! Yes! We did it! [archival audio from the Senate Committee of the Judiciary Hearing “Combating the Rise in Hate Crimes” from March 8, 2022] Senator Dick Durbin: We're hardly three months into 2022. And already our nation has seen a spate of hate crime. Dr. Kimbrough. Walter Kimbrough, President, Dillard University: Good afternoon, Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Chuck Grassley. And thank you for the invitation members of the Committee on the Judiciary and a special Louisiana acknowledgement to Senator Kennedy. My name is Walter Kimbrough, and I am the president of Dillard University in New Orleans. I am in my 18th year as an HBCU president. Since the beginning of January, we have seen an unprecedented number of threats against historically black colleges and universities. For all practical purposes, every HBCU has been threatened. These threats have disrupted normal operations causing classes to be canceled or hastily moved online. Unsettled students and parents already weary from the two-year toll of COVID and in cities like New Orleans disrupted last fall by a hurricane, which left an entire major American city without power for days. These threats take an even heavier toll. We need federal law enforcement agencies to redouble their efforts to catch the wolves. [archival audio from WDSU Channel 6 NBC News New Orleans “Dillard University Mock Trial Team heads to Nationals” ] [audio from video taken during the announcement from competition that the Dillard team won the bid to attend AMTA Opening Round Championship Series (ORCS) Regional Tournament, screams of joy, cries and cheers] Christina Watkins News Anchor: Well, look at that, so much excitement coming from Dillard university. This is the mock trial team, and they are on the road to nationals, ladies and gentlemen, and get this they're going to compete in the opening round championship series out of 24 teams in the region, Dillard is one of six to advance. [exterior street and city sound of Memphis, Tennessee, police sirens, car traffic] AMTA Regional Tournament Host from Rhodes College [inside Judge D’Army Bailey Courthouse ]: We're going to go ahead and get started. And I, and I will just for a moment, take just a second to say, welcome to everybody. We are really excited to have you all in Memphis. We are really excited to be here in the courthouse. I did want to just say a couple things about this courthouse. It is a historic building. You might have recognized some of the spaces in this building it's been featured in a lot of feature films, including The Firm, The Client, Walk the Line. Basically any legal movie that's been set in Memphis has probably had some filming done here. And we hope that you all enjoy kind of get to getting to live your John Grisham fantasy this weekend. DeAndre K. Bell: I made a post to LinkedIn actually last night using the picture that we took on the, so the courthouse and I mentioned how the atmosphere of the courthouse was far different than something I've experienced from mock trial before. The D'Army Bailey courthouse is named after Black man. So let's start there. The amount of history that is held when you have a bunch of Black kids standing on the steps of a courthouse named for a Black man in a city that is so historic to the civil rights of Black people. It's, it's very powerful. [Opening ceremony of AMTA ORCS Regional Tournament] AMTA ORCS Tournament Host Male Voice: So with that, we can go ahead and flip the coin. Mike has that. Mike: It is tails. Our next card from the D group is team 1216 Dillard. And from group a 1581 Northwestern . So those are your first-round pairings. Male Voice: And we're getting the boards made right now that will have the room numbers on them will also... Anna Eldridge: [inside the hallway of the Judge D’Army Bailey Courthouse] Also for that. My name is Anna Eldridge. I am the director of mock trial and pre-law advising at Rhodes College and we are the tournament host for the Memphis Opening Round Championship Series. So my responsibility was to run the tournament. You know, everybody at this point has already competed at Invitationals. They've already competed at Regionals. And you know, this is the tournament where, you know, everybody in the field is really strong. The stakes are really high because everybody just really wants to be in that final field of 48. And the goal is to pick the best six teams out of each field to advance to the final 48 teams in April. You know, you've got the top six ranked teams in the country that are at this field are in the A group. And some of the teams that are here for the first time that have not competed at this tournament before or not gone to nationals before, teams like Dillard, are ranked in the D group. They're going to be matching up against the A group in round one. And I think that's going to, that's going to make for interesting matchups. And then as the tournament goes on, we'll keep hitting different teams in different categories to see ultimately who has the highest number of ballots. So how many judges thought you were the better team against each of your opponents. [team gathers before Round 1, Lajeanne leads team chant] Lajeanne Shelton: Okay, let's go. So y'all know you got to rock with it. Come on. This team. Best team. Black team. Strong team. I love my team. [Leading chant 00:48:32]. Group: This team. Best team. Black team. Strong team. I love my team! [Following chant 00:48:42]. Lajeanne Shelton: Let's get in there and do what we came in here to do! [cheers and applause] Caitlin Douglas: Who you, who you rolling with? Group: D! Caitlin Douglas: What’s the rest? Group: U! Judge Kern Reese: Let's go try the case. [Inside courtroom, Round 1 begins] Lajeanne Shelton: Your Honor, opposing counsel members of the jury, may it please the court. Follow the hoodie. On August 1st, 2020 Jaylon Williams, a Midland Center firefighter heard the alarms of the fire station ringing, meaning that it was time for him to once again, risk his life. With no second thought and no hesitation, he grabbed his gear and rushed onto the fire truck. And unfortunately, you will learn that search and rescue mission did end in one casualty. And on that very day, Midlands lost a hero and a citizen. The most important, a family lost a father, the sons they all lost Jaylon Williams. [team huddles in between rounds] Lajeanne Shelton: There's no regrets here. That's right. No regrets. Ain't nothing. Ain't no regrets in here. I love y'all so much. And I'm going to be writing the pews behind you and praising PR them in the thing, show you right when y'all get up there and get, I'm going to be writing my little sermon notes in the back of my bulletin. [laughter] Let let's pull on a great show. Let's put on the performance. Let's put on a great case. Renee Simien: I don't know if anybody notice whenever we walked in this morning, but we made a full circle back to the beginning. And I thought about that. I just thought about how life is a full circle. You know, the beginning of life and the end of life. And I thought about our coaches always say what we need to win. It's already side of us. [crying] What we need to win is already here. That was the beginning. So I know right now we're at the end and we're round four, but this is actually our beginning again. Group: Yeah. Yes. Renee Simien: To the next chapter that we have. And we just came back to it. So when y'all go to that route, remember everything you need to win is already inside you. That was important for y'all. Group: Yeah. Amaya: Don't make me cry. Caitlin Douglas: You know, when we need to be here, we show up and end, end of the day. And it's coming back full circle, Renee and Amaya and I do with imposter syndrome. And when I say y'all are younger than me and y'all really do inspire me. The job I have the leadership that I have, the confidence that I have, the struggles I'm overcoming with the LSAT. There's so much other things. This team is a godsend. Amaya. All of y'all everybody. Thank you. Amaya Ronczyk: I'm just very proud of y'all. I'm not even as nervous as I was going into Regionals. You know, that was my last shot. Getting out of there. And now that we're here, I'm just excited for where we can go. I'm not nervous at all. I have full confidence in every one of y'all and I'm, I'm just, I can't explain how much I'm proud of y'all. So thank you. Caitlin Douglas: And we proud of you, too. [cheers and applause] Renee Simien: Do the I love my team, so we can go inside. DeAndre K. Bell: Has coach eyes and assume and attitude, prayer, Father God, for the millions of time, we thank you. Thank you, God. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I cannot stop saying it enough for all that you have done and all that you will do for this team. Thank you, Father God, as we go into this national season, I ask that you watch over everyone on this team. Everyone has given so much Father God, everyone has lost a part of themselves to give to this team father. So I ask that you restore us tenfold father God. Now, if there's anything I you to ask, please, don't agree to answer for in your darling son, Jesus, and we pray. Amen. Group: Amen. [audio from Round] Amaya: Like your attorney stated you're facing life in prison. Witness: Yeah. I don't know how much time I got left, but I'm here for a good time. Not a long time. You know? Amaya: You're here today, testifying on behalf of the prosecution. Witness: Yeah. Amaya: And the prosecution has offered you a plea deal. Yeah. That's what they told me. Yeah. And that in that plea deal, you may face 10 to 20 years, right? Witness: Yeah. I'm not sure I'll make it that long, but sure. Amaya: That's under the condition that you testify against the defendant. Isn't that true? Witness: Yeah. There's someone said they wanted me to help out. Yeah. DeAndre K. Bell: And you know, now I want to ask you about the night in question you say you saw someone around 12 o'clock Right? Witness: Yes, I did. DeAndre K. Bell: It was dark outside. Witness: It was, it was around midnight, but there were some street lights. DeAndre K. Bell: They had a hoodie on? Witness: They did, it was a dark hoodie, a dark clothes. And I was surprised it was so hot outside. DeAndre K. Bell: As a matter of fact, the hood was up. Isn't that right? Witness: It was, you must have been hot. DeAndre K. Bell: Now you saw this person for about one second. Isn't that correct? Witness: Yeah. Yeah. That sounds about right. DeAndre K. Bell: Now. As you observed, you said you were 50 feet away. Isn't that right? Witness: Give or take. Yes, sir. DeAndre K. Bell: Now you didn't see this person go through the back door of Chuggy's, right? Witness: No, I did not. DeAndre K. Bell: You also didn't see anyone go through the front door. Witness: No, I can't see the front from the back. DeAndre K. Bell: Thank you, your Honor. I have nothing further. Now the defense does not disagree with the fact that arson indeed was committed in this case. But what we do disagree with, is who did it. Members of the jury, the burden in today's case, the state's burden in today's case is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. That must mean they must prove each of the elements I just listed to you beyond that reasonable doubt members of the jury, that is the highest burden in our judicial system and suffice us to say, they have failed to meet that burden. But members of the jury have to ask ourselves who saw what? Miss Sing. Didn't see anyone go into or out of Chuggies. Miss Sing didn't see anyone go through the alleyway. Miss Sing couldn't even see anyone. If they were to have gone through the front, because at the prosecution waited for the smoke to clear. They would've understood that someone wearing a random jacket one day with the hood raised upstanding, not five, not 10, not 15, not 20, but 50 feet away with the hood raised and the lights off would've rendered a verdict in today's case of not guilty. Thank you. [AMTA Regional ORCS Host announces teams who will win the bid to Nationals] Tournament Host Male Voice: So I will begin with the team that finished with the best record. We had one team finished with seven wins, zero losses and one tie. Caitlin Douglas: Jesus. Tournament Host Male Voice: Team 1216. Group: [crosstalk 00:56:29] [cheers, screams, applause, crying] Oh lord! Oh my god! Yes, yes, yes. We did it! Whoo! Lajeanne Shelton: We showed them we were Black! We got the best record! Group chatter crosstalk: My chest like I can't -- when I sit in the evaluation form. So let's go get these, let's go get this trophy. Let's go get and they better not run out of our attorney awards. This award on the front. We won first. The first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Jesus said it. We won first. We won first place. We just won first play, play first place. We won first place. Come on in, come on, come on else. Lajeanne Shelton: Okay. If this part of the thing ends up on the news, it's going to be a problem. Group chatter: No, Black people in the front. We won first. Not second, not third. We are the Alpha. So when we become top number one in the nation. Amaya: And I have my songs picked, picked out all the video, “Seeing Green” by Nicki Minaj. Renee Simien: Let's go. Cause we won. We won. [interior of Dillard University mock trial classroom with the team and coaches] Adria Kimbrough: All right, so with that, if you all will indulge me, we need to do a quick room change. We're going to go to room 164, which we all are familiar with just right here around the corner. You can leave. If you need to, you can leave some of your things. Katie Phang: So I've heard that this is possibly your last season. Is that true? Adria Kimbrough: This is true? Katie Phang: Well, how does that make you feel? I mean, you clearly put more than just the check the box energy, into this. Adria Kimbrough: Yeah. It's you know, mixed feelings for sure. I have in, I mean, this has been just really like the blessing of a lifetime. I really have received so much from being in community with these students. Or being able to sort of walk along with them on this part of their journey and to see the progress of this team, the collective, and then the individuals who passed this way. It is just been the blessing of a lifetime. You know? It is, it is sad. I guess I can use the word sad. It, I do feel some sense of sadness. Katie Phang: Maybe bittersweet? Is it a little bittersweet? Adria Kimbrough: Yeah. Bittersweet. Because this has been so much of my life for, you know, fair, fair amount of time. The thing that is sweet about it is just seeing the growth people outside the team on the campus know that like, oh wow, you're on the mock trial team. They know that means something serious. Like the team has a reputation on campus. Like, no, they, they are serious and they are good. And it means something to them and it means something on the campus. And I think we've got, you know, students who have bought into that to where, you know, that will continue beyond this beyond this year and beyond this season. [music, solo piano plays “Go Tell it on The Mountain”] Jason Goss, St. Mary’s University coach: This is fun. I mean, it's, you know, it's stressful, but it's fun. I mean, you know, getting these, getting to the break, we always tell them that all we can prepare you for is to break because once you're in the break ground, you're always going against a school. That's as good as you are. There's so many variables that right now, we're just all hanging on for the ride. Katie Phang [narration]: That's next time on Class Action. Class Action is a production of iHeartRadio and sound argument. Created, produced, written and edited by Kevin Huffman and Lisa Gray. Additional story production by Jennifer Swan, Jason Foster and Wendy Nardi. Executive producers are Taylor Chicoine and Katrina Norvelle. Sound, design, editing, and mixing by Evan Tyor and Taylor Chicoine. This episode had additional field production by Jason Foster. This episode had additional field production by Jason Foster, Davis Land, Thomas Walsh, and Matt Wymer. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your favorite shows. # END Previous Next

< Back COLE DAVILA Student, St. Mary's University "May it please the court. Our circumstances determine our conditions. The decisions that we make at any given moment can change our lives for better or worse." Previous Next

< Back LARA BAZELON with guest, Law Professor, Writer. "I come from this public defender background. A lot of my students come from law enforcement backgrounds. I've had to move to this place of understanding who I'm training, which is lawyers writ large, and not just lawyers who sort of think and act the way that I do." Previous Next

< Back MATT SKINNER Student, University of South Dakota "What appeals to me is the overarching justice system and the fact that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Whereas, that's how it's written. But, in society, that is not the case." Previous Next

< Back MARIELA ENCINAS Student, St. Mary's University "Your honor, opposing counsel, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. She couldn't escape. She wanted to leave, but, she couldn't. He would not have it. So, instead, he killed her." Previous Next

< Back LAURA ROSE Coach, University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law "Stand firm on your knowledge. Stand firm on your preparation. Don't worry about the individual components of it right now. You know how to flow with this. You're a monster. Get in there and destroy people." Previous Next

< Back TONY SERRA with guest, Civil rights attorney, Activist. "You're a lawyer who can effectuate civil rights. You're a lawyer that can give freedom to the underclass. You're a lawyer that can stop racism. You're a lawyer that can help overzealous prosecutions." Previous Next

< Back AMAYA RONCZYK Student, Dillard University "It's important that there's a place for lawyers that work with empathy, that sympathize with their clients, that understand that there's more behind the story. It's important that the person sitting at the defendant's table, that their story is portrayed in a way that makes the jury or the judge empathize or place themselves in their shoes." Previous Next

Press San Antonio Report St. Mary’s Law School featured in new national podcast by Nicholas Frank Vulture 1.5x Speed Class Action -- Objection! San Antonio Express St. Mary's Law students from San Antonio in new podcast "Class Action" hosted by MSNBC's Katie Phang

< Back Episode 10 10. Any Given Sunday Air date: August 2, 2022 It’s been a grueling season for AJ’s St. Mary’s squad. Spirits are low. Exhaustion has creeped in. The Regional Competition is around the corner – and the case packet has just dropped. If they win in Houston, they advance to Nationals. Lose, and they go home. And standing in their way is perennial nemesis, Baylor University. The odds are low, but when the finals are held on a Sunday, anything can happen. Learn more about the schools, programs and special guests: St. Mary's University Law School Texas Young Lawyers Association University of Houston Law Center American Board of Trial Advocates Baylor Law School South Texas College of Law University of Texas at Austin School of Law Follow us on Twitter @ClassActionPod and Instagram @ClassActionPod Visit our show page for transcripts and more details about the series at ClassActionPod.com Follow host Katie Phang on Twitter @KatiePhang and Instagram @KatiePhang . TRANSCRIPT Katie Phang, host: Class Action is a production of iHeartRadio and Sound Argument. AJ Bellido de Luna: Watch your fingers and hands. Student: But we don't have Jasmin. Cole Davila: We're just going to leave without Jasmin? Where is she? Student: Where is she? Is she finding more jackets? Speaker 5 : She's printing stuff. Speaker 3: Wait. Andy Vizcarra Wait, wait. We're missing Jasmin. Speaker 3: We're missing Jasmin. Speaker 4: Call him. Speaker 4: No. Andy Vizcarra Hi, where are you? Speaker 4: He's cold. He's in shortsies. Speaker 5 : Oh, AJ's driving. AJ Bellido de Luna: It's 12 o'clock. Andy Vizcarra Yeah. He's driving right now. AJ Bellido de Luna: You remember the rule? We're leaving at 12:00. Andy Vizcarra Okay. She said she's walking out of [inaudible 00:00:37]. AJ Bellido de Luna: Tell her not to hurry. Tell her. Tell her not to hurry. Student: Tell her to run. Andy Vizcarra: He said you have to run. Andy Vizcarra: Run. AJ Bellido de Luna: No, don't do that to her. Andy Vizcarra: Run. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Student: Oh, there she is. Student: There she is, she's in the front Gap outfit. Andy Vizcarra: Tell her to run faster. Student: She's neon blue Gap outfit. Andy Vizcarra: She's in a full on track suit. She was meant for this moment. AJ Bellido de Luna: I actually thought she was in the medical school. Cole Davila: She is ready for the game coaching. Jasmin Olguin: Hello everyone. AJ Bellido de Luna: All right. Here we go. On the road again. Can't wait to go back on the road again. Come on everyone, sing along. [singing] Jason Goss: All I love is making music with you. [singing] AJ Bellido de Luna: That's good. You should go to karaoke. Andy Vizcarra I don't know that song. Andy Vizcarra: [crosstalk 00:01:26] Oh I didn't do Wordle today. Guys we haven't done Wordle yet. I'm so sorry, what? Jasmin's just mad because she doesn't understand Wordle. Cole Davila: I don't have it, so when it comes in it's just like stickers. Jasmin Olguin: I Do. It was my first time. Andy Vizcarra: So right now I have no idea where we are. I just woke up from a nap, but we're on our way to Houston. And we stopped at a Bucky's, classic, must do in Texas. Apparently they have the best convenient store barbecue sandwiches in the state. But it's just miserable outside. It is gray. I've never seen Texas be gray before, but we are moving and grooving in Houston. Andy Vizcarra: Jasmin brought 17 different outfits. Jasmin Olguin: It's two jackets. Andy Vizcarra: Dude. It was at least four winter coats. Cole Davila: You probably brought the entire wardrobe. Jasmin Olguin: That leather coat completes the look. What? Andy Vizcarra For one night you brought that coat, Jasmin? You're going to be Jack Sparrow on us? Cole Davila: I'm watching the news. Chernobyl just fell to the Russians. So that's fun. Jasmi Olguin: For real? Cole Davila: Yeah. Chernobyl. The site of the nuclear disaster, the Russians just took it. So they're still moving south. So this is the stuff that interests me. Chernobyl, yeah, they took Chernobyl. Student: You know the energy in this van needs to be positive. Uplifting. Get rid of my sight. Cole Davila: Don't ask me then, because I'm glued to this stuff right now. GPS: Use the left two lanes to keep left at I-10 East. Jasmin Olguin: Wow, is that a Wendy's? Andy Vizcarra How `is Wendy's still in business? Student: Their frosties? Speaker 5 : Their nuggets. Cole Davila: Their nuggets. Their nuggets are amazing. Student: Their frosties. Student: Yeah. Cole Davila: I've never had their... Speaker 4: They're good. Andy Vizcarra: The little one, you can do one this big. Student: Yeah. For like a dollar. Andy Vizcarra: Why would you ever get a Frosty when you can just get a blizzard at Dairy Queen? Katie Phang, host: After the disappointing loss at the Best of Texas competition. [audio from Episode 7 “Don’t Mess with Texas”] Jasmin Olguin: So we lost that round? AJ Bellido de Luna: We lost that round. Two to one. We did. Katie Phang, host: The St. Mary's trial team. It's back together. Only this time without Mariella. And they're on route to the highest stakes tournament of the year, the regional bracket of the National Trial Competition . 11 schools start out on Friday, but only two will survive and advance to nationals on Sunday. By that time for everyone else, the season will be over. And while this isn't the first rodeo for St. Mary's, it is the first time they'll be competing live this season. Courthouse Security Guard: Welcome to the Harris County civil courthouse. Judge Christine Weems: So you can come in here and be comfortable and mingle with people. Student: Oh we can go in there too? Judge Christine Weems: You should know about this room. Because this public room is where there's always going to be a bottle of water. There's going to be coffee in the morning here. There's going to be lunch as well, so. Katie Phang, host: The law students are all dressed up for a swanky happy hour that's on the docket for tonight. The only table available to St. Mary's though, is smacked dab in the center of the room where all of the other teams can check them out. Cole Davila: Yeah, no. Andy Vizcarra: You have the happy hour. Cole Davila: Yeah, I think we just chill here. Andy Vizcarra: I am so hungry. Katie Phang, host: Judge Christine Weems, the competition host leaves the students to fend for themselves. She pulls all of the coaches into a conference room to sort out the rules and to draw the match ups. Judge Christine Weems: So y'all can just come hang out here. I'm going to take the coaches to a different room. Judge Christine Weems: So we do a four round prelim just because I hate three round prelims. I'm very bitter. I did... I got... Well, I got on the losing end of a three round prelim in law school like 25 years ago and I still hold a grudge about it. AJ Bellido de Luna: She's not bitter. Katie Phang, host: Back in the main room. It's awkward. The St. Mary's team tries to act cool. Cole Davila: Unique New York. Student: It's hard, unique New York, unique in New York. Cole Davila: Unique New York. Student: Just to help you like enunciate your words before you speak. AJ Bellido de Luna: Just like toy boat. Student: She does red leather, yellow leather. Katie Phang, host: There's a lot of side eye glances, silent judgements, and forced small talk. Except from Cole Davila. Cole Davila: If you say you hacked into a nuclear reactor, you could scram the reactor, which shuts down the plant, cutting off power. Student: That's not very good for the civilians. Cole Davila: Rules like that are easy when everything's going good. And then it goes bad. Katie Phang, host: But these are competitors. And they are on high alert for any smack talk from the other schools. Especially from their arch nemesis Baylor University . Christopher Grant: My name is Christopher Grant. I am the young Padawan to the Jedi master Kris Ruiz. Kristopher Ruiz: Kristopher Ruiz. This is my fourth tournament on behalf of Baylor, I competed in undergrad so I've been repping Baylor for seven years now. It's a great experience. Really enjoy it. Looking forward to the tournament. Katie Phang, host: An hour goes by and the coaches, well they're oblivious to what their suffering students are going through. [Judge Weems and coaches in conference room] Judge Christine Weems: Nope, can't do that. 163 can't play 162. Pick a different one. That one I know. 163 versus 235. Can we do that? Coach: Yes, Ma’am. [all teams in larger conference room waiting for the coaches to return] Andy Vizcarra: I feel like, what's in consensus is that we are a little bit, just a tiny bit, starving. Student: Just a tiny bit starving. Andy Vizcarra: You guys left for the coaches' conference. And we thought that was the happy hour. So we were like, bring on the tapas. Nope, no tapas. Judge Christine Weems: Great. That's the opening rounds. I'll put all this on the website. Katie Phang, host: It's late, it's freezing, and it's raining. The tapas and the fashionable cocktails at the happy hour are going to waste. This whole, "Let's get together and bond with your fellow law student," thing. Well, it's a total bust. [team gathers in hotel lobby] Jason Goss: And the other option is y'all just go back to the hotel now and get pizza. Student: I will literally pay for the pizza. Jason Goss: I prefer that. Yeah, no, we could do that. I got to go to the happy hour but y'all can go back. Student: There was teams that didn't even show up to this. Katie Phang, host: This is Episode 10 of Class Action, "Any Given Sunday". Ashley Hymel: The excitement level for them is just huge and it just makes all of our hearts grow. And it's why we do this. Bree Trevino: It's extremely fast paced. Once you're in the competition... Katie Phang, host: Bree Trevino and Ashley Hymel oversee the national competition for the Texas Young Lawyers Association. Ashley Hymel: There's not a lot of time to think. Once you're in it, you just have to do what you know that you need to do and move forward. I think the competition setting is important for them to understand how to be good trial lawyers when the stakes are high, when there's the pressure on when there's the stress to it as well. [teams gathered at courthouse in large conference room] Jasmin Olguin: Oh yeah. This morning I woke up at four and was stressing. I couldn't go back to bed. And I was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to pass out. I'm not sleeping enough. And I have to go two rounds. What if that happens? And then Andy woke up finally and I'm like, Andy, she's like, no, no we're switching. And I was like, okay. Jason Goss: So my main job is just to make sure all those cats are herded at the beginning. Make sure they're on track. Katie Phang, host: Coach Jason Goss comes across like a good old boy, but just below the surface. He's hell bent on a trophy. Jason was the star attorney on the last St Mary's team to make it to nationals, way back in 2008. Jason Goss: But now I need y'all to win. I need y'all to have a killer instinct. I need you to go for the throat every time. Because if you don't, this will be the last mock trial that you ever do. When you're [inaudible 00:10:36] everything rides on this weekend. And you got to kill it. Jason Goss: South Texas is very good. I mean, they're always very good. St. Mary's always goes against South Texas and Baylor. Always. Every year since I've been here. Every year. And it's always hard and that's good. And if you beat him, you feel really good. Cole Davila: Going both ways. Some of the facts start to blur a little bit together, especially since some of the initial stuff and openings and crosses and directs kind of are similar questions. So it would throw me off. So, I saw that I had two ties that are kind of similar in design. So, the gold is defense. I've always been told red is a prosecution color. So... Andy Vizcarra: I think blue is a prosecutor because we're the good guys. Cole Davila: Well, red is prosecution for me. So, that's how I keep it straight. [beginning of Round 1 of National Trial Competition Regionals] Judge: All right. Calling to order. Cause number 18333, the State of Lone Star versus Timmy Williams. We're on the record. Does the state have any motions? South Texas competitor: Yes, your Honor. By way of background, the defendant in today's case, Timmy Williams is being charged with possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver. Now, the defendant was found in apartment number 123, along with cocaine, and other associated drug paraphernalia. Now the apartment in question is listed under Tommy Williams. Who's the defendant's brother. Judge: Is there a response? Jasmin Olguin: Yes, your Honor. We are here today on a possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver that controlled substance being cocaine. A key issue in today's case is who had actual care, custody and control. It will be our defense that Tommy Williams was the one who had actual care, custody and control… Cole Davila: That's when officer Perez took the drugs from upstairs, walked them downstairs to a table where there was a scale… Jasmin Olguin: So he took the cocaine from upstairs, brought it downstairs, placed it on this scale and then took the photograph. It would be misleading the jury, as it was manipulated and staged for this photograph to be taken… Katie Phang, host: After months on Zoom, Jasmin finally has the opportunity to take advantage of the dynamics of a real courtroom. Jasmin Olguin: May I approach the witness? Judge: You may. Katie Phang, host: Cole, who is normally pretty shy, can finally let loose. Cole Davila: We want to talk about that scale. Do you see that scale there? Witness: Yes. Cole Davila: You didn't check that scale for fingerprints, did you? Witness: No. Cole Davila: You didn't check that scale for cocaine residue. Katie Phang, host: And of course Jasmin can have her hair just right. Her nails flawless. As she likes to say. Everyone is making eye contact with the witness, the judge and the other team. It's a revelation. Jasmin Olguin: It was the perfect example of delivery. Because it was manipulated. Katie Phang, host: In many ways, the defense case, it's juicier. They can argue that investigators rushed to judgment that they staged the evidence. They didn't even read Timmy Williams his Miranda Rights. Cole Davila: You didn't talk to anybody that day did you? Witness: No, I did not. Cole Davila: You didn't talk to anyone there any other time, did you? Witness: No. Cole Davila: Prosecution's supposed to keep us safe whereas the defense is supposed to keep the government in check. You have to keep the bad cops in check. And you have to hammer them hard. Cole Davila: You didn't talk to the landlord of that apartment complex. You never tried to examine a lease agreement. You never tried to verify who actually owned apartment 123. Did you? Cole Davila: So there's this weird dynamic. It sounds bad making an example because you don't want to go too far, but you also don't want to, convict, in the court of public opinion, a cop who did nothing wrong, but you might have to imply that they did something wrong in order to serve your client. Jasmin Olguin: You can either choose to do what is right or what is easy. And the state has chosen to do what is easy. Members of the jury we are asking you to do what is right. When you see that verdict form, to find Mr. Williams, not guilty. Judge: Thank you counselors. At this point, we're going to submit the matter to the jury. And so we are in recess until that point off the record. All right. [in recess, team gathers in hallway] Jason Goss: So I mean, I feel good about them. We'll just kind of see, it's going to be interesting because if they do well in these first two rounds, they're going to be going against the best then the third and fourth, and everybody's going to be knocking each other down. So, that's a good thing. Katie Phang, host: It's a surprisingly good first day for the St. Mary's team. They win this round as well as the next. With Andy wearing her prosecutor's hat ripping apart the key witness for the defense. Andy Vizcarra: Mr. Williams, according to you, the scale in this photo isn't yours. Timmy Williams: It is not. Andy Vizcarra: According to you, the straws aren't yours. Timmy Williams: No. Andy Vizcarra: According to you, the little baggies aren't yours. Timmy Williams: No. Andy Vizcarra: And according to you, the cocaine isn't yours. Timmy Williams: Nope. Andy Vizcarra: And according to you, you're Tommy Williams, right? Timmy Williams: No, according to me, I'm Timmy Williams. Andy Vizcarra: But that's not what you told the police on the day that you were arrested. Timmy Williams: That's accurate. Andy Vizcarra: No further questions. [inside Judge Christine Weems’ office] Judge Christine Weems: I'm still waiting to hear from this round, and this round to find out who the presiding judge is, but I know Bill Ford's presiding judge because I saw him on the bench in that one. AJ Bellido de Luna: Okay. Katie Phang, host: It's the second day of the regional tournament and head coach AJ Bellido de Luna is volunteering to help Judge Weems with the scoring system. It's a complex job and something he's done throughout his career in the trial advocacy world. AJ maintains his neutrality, but he can't help, but be excited at how well his team is doing. AJ Bellido de Luna: Our St. Mary's 2 team, of team 163, they're the ones that just swept that last round. They're facing the Baylor team, which happens to be in first place. We have a tough matchup, but this is where we're supposed to be. You want to be in the arena with the big boys, right? With the big teams, that's, where you want to be. You want to be playing against the best players. And the fact that they came out of the basement, says a lot more about their character. Andy Vizcarra: I really, really just hope that we break this fake curse that everyone is talking... We just haven't advanced in so long. I really just want to be the team that does it. It's time. We've waited long enough. And we know that we got it. So we just got to do it. Katie Phang, host: For Andy, Jasmin, and Cole, their entire season is on the line. Cole Davila: Your Honor, those in counsel. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, may I please the court. Two wrongs don't make a right, and three lies don't make a truth. At the end of this trial, my co-counsel is going to come before you. Ms. Andy Vizcarra. And she's going to go through all of the evidence that you saw today. And you're going to see the wrongs of the defendant and the lies of the defendant, don't make it true. And she's going to show you how we have met our burden of proof. And she will ask you to find the defendant. Timmy Williams, guilty. Katie Phang, host: Baylor is not fooling around. They bring in their A team. Christopher Grant: May I please the court? My name is Christopher Grant, and I'm proud to be here representing Timmy Williams. Now, just a moment ago, the state came before you and they spent most of their time talking about the fact that Timmy Williams... Well, they're going to tell you over, and over, and over, and over again that he's a liar, he's a liar, you shouldn't trust him. Cole Davila: Objection, your Honor. I apologize. But this is getting into significant argumentative territory. Judge: Sustained. Cole Davila: In general, I am a fairly quiet person, I keep to myself and I don't confront people. Here, to me, it makes sense for me to be a little more snippy and a little more aggressive. You give me an assignment I do it. Katie Phang, host: Maybe it's because it's Baylor, or maybe it's the pressure or the threat of elimination, but it's obvious these lawyers really don't like each other. The mascot for Baylor is the bear. For St. Mary's. It's the rattlesnake. Andy Vizcarra: Mr. Williams, how many times would you say that you lied to law enforcement on the day that you were arrested? Mr. Williams, you told the law enforcement that day that you were talking about doing that... You were also throwing your brother under the bus. Christopher Grant: So the truth. Throughout the entire course of your investigation, you found no evidence, Timmy Williams ever received any payment in exchange for drugs. Witness: I found no money, correct. Christopher Grant: You found no evidence, Timmy Williams communicated with anyone whatsoever to buy or sell any drugs... Daniela Vakulchik: ...You moved two pieces of key evidence with your bare hands. So officer Perez, you staged this photograph. Officer Perez: I disagree with that. In staging... Andy Vizcarra: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we learned today that when Timmy Williams' back is against the wall. What he does is lie. Today you have the power to deliver a verdict based on the truth. I ask that you find the defendant guilty today. Daniela Vakulchik: May it please the court? It is a scary society for us to live in, to think that you can visit somebody's house, and because that somebody else has something incriminating upstairs, you could be found guilty. Andy Vizcarra: He had nothing to hide. That's what they told you. If he had nothing to hide, why lie? If you had nothing to hide, why would you ask, "How do I get out of these charges?" Why not say, wait, whoa, this has gone too far. I'm not Tommy. I'm Timmy. Those aren't my drugs. Daniela Vakulchik: Objection, your Honor. Andy Vizcarra: Isn't my... Daniela Vakulchik: I'm sorry to interrupt. I asked that it be stricken. Judge: Let's move along. Andy Vizcarra: Yes your Honor. If he had nothing to hide, why lie? Judge 1: Andy, your style is great. I knew from your face, you didn't like my original ruling on the conversation. Andy Vizcarra: Oh no. Judge 1: And it's fine and it's okay to be disappointed, right? It's fine. But I like the way you came back and you came back in a very respectful way and you had new evidence... Judge 2: Andy. Gosh, you're such a good advocate. Cole also, man, y'all both of you guys as a team, super professional. Christopher, you are an excellent storyteller. Daniela you're a really good listener, but maybe don't get too aggressive right off the bat. Judge Christine Weems: So the part that you care about, these are the teams that are advancing. In the semifinals for region 10, in the 333rd on prosecution will be team 350 Baylor 2 versus team 163 St. Mary. [crowd cheers and applause] And then the last team in the semifinal round will be in the 334th team, 349 Baylor one versus team 162 St. Mary. [crowd cheers and applause] For those y'all who broke, I'm sure y'all have work to do. For the rest of you who didn't break, we thank you so much for coming. [inside restaurant as the team gathers for dinner] St. Mary’s team chatter: She said what? No, I'm not leaving. No, no. Jason Goss: No. I'm proud of all you. I mean, I've told you all y'all are going to be here. St. Mary’s team chatter: We made it. Jason Goss: We made it. St. Mary’s team chatter: We don't take L's we give them. St. Mary’s team chatter: We finally did it. St. Mary’s team chatter: We broke. We made it to the next round. We're going the semifinals and it's unreal. We're so excited. So happy. AJ Bellido de Luna: We can't remember when's the last time St. Mary's advanced two teams in this competition to the next round, in a live competition. But the last time that we had two teams advance, especially the gauntlet that we went through, is pretty amazing. So, hopefully we're not done. Today when they got the van, they weren't going lose. They did exactly what they needed to do against superb teams. So, I'm ecstatic right now. But it's not good enough is it. It's been since 2008 since we made it to the nationals. We need them. We need them to do it. So, I am cautiously optimistic. Jason Goss: Here's the thing. Tomorrow, when you go in, now, it's for real. You lay it all out there because the one thing you don't want to go back and say, "I could have done more, and I didn't because I was tired." AJ Bellido de Luna: I'm worried about them waking up tomorrow and saying, "Oh my God, we're facing Baylor." Baylor's the best trial advocacy program in the country. They really are. Facing them is a big hurdle. We can't get to the national championship without getting through them. So, it's going to be hard. It's going to be a hard day. They can do their best and it's still not win. Student: Don't accept the premise. Whoo! AJ Bellido de Luna: I'm so happy. AJ Bellido de Luna: So we're going back to the hotel. Katie Phang, host: The team piles into the van and heads back to the hotel. Andy calls a team meeting in her room. Jasmin's already in her PJ's and fuzzy slippers. Jasmin Olguin: Wait, can I say the first thing? Andy Vizcarra: Oh yeah, sure. Lead the meeting cap. Jasmin Olguin: What can we do to better the round we had this morning? Because it was a good round, but we need to be great. Andy Vizcarra: Jasmin. Jasmin Olguin: Yeah. Jasmin Olguin: Like today I was better at that. Andy Vizcarra: Yeah, you were great. And you were on it. Next level of that is, yeah, Baylor's tomorrow. I don't think we should get really psyched out about it because... Jasmin Olguin: I'm not. Andy Vizcarra: ...We did it today. And we did it today. Jasmin Olguin: Cole, you lead pretrial. If you don't mind... Cole Davila: I'll do it. Jasmin Olguin: I'm sorry. Cole Davila: That's fine. Andy Vizcarra: You have... No! You have to assert... You're the anchor. You have to assert your dominance from the beginning. It's your time. It's your clock. It's your room. It's your trial. It's your case. Cole Davila: Okay. Andy Vizcarra: Like tomorrow it's Baylor. So read the room, read the witness, read the judge, and apply your cross accordingly. But even if it has to be soft cross, like... Jasmin Olguin: We're actually... Andy Vizcarra: Your job is done by noon. Jasmin. Think about that after noon. You're... Jasmin Olguin: I just need to get it to you. And I'm good. Once we get it there... Andy Vizcarra: But most likely they're going to switch it to cross. There's no way they gave St. Mary's two defenses and the semi-final round. Cole Davila: That'd be awesome. Andy Vizcarra: And they're not going to flip us [inaudible 00:27:04]. Andy Vizcarra: It's weird. Jasmin Olguin: Maybe it's because of my issues, I don't feel like... Andy Vizcarra: Oh Jesus. Jasmin Olguin: You scream to everybody "Love me." I scream, "Don't". I don't want you to love me people. That's what it is. Cole Davila: There's some deepness there. Jasmin Olguin: All right. I appreciate it. What do you think, Cole? How are you feeling? Andy Vizcarra: Yeah. Cole, you actually have done the most work ever. Jasmin Olguin: Like you've been a straight up gangster "G" every round. Cole Davila: Just got to do it again tomorrow. Andy Vizcarra: Yeah! Jasmin Olguin: You're the glue... Andy Vizcarra: He said "gangster's my middle name!" Jasmin Olguin: You are the glue to this team. Andy Vizcarra: You are the glue to this team. Without you Jasmin and I would still be fighting about what to get for dinner. Jasmin Olguin: Yeah. Bad. Jasmin Olguin: Bad. Like you make us better. Each of us. Cole Davila: My dad was in the Marines a few years before I was born. My mom's father, he was in the Air Force. Military was just something I sort of grew up interested in. People watch whatever TV shows, reality shows or whatever, I'd be watching some military documentary or something like that. Just because that's what I found interesting. Cole Davila: So my dad, he's all for joining the military, very supportive of it. And my biological father's the same way. He's put me in contact with people that he knows that were former JAG to talk to them and learn more about the program. My mom isn't as thrilled about it. That motherly protection kind of thing. She thought that JAG was a civilian thing where they just work for the military. She didn't realize it was actual military. So if I did JAG, it would be basic training, should be officer kind of get school, after that. And then JAG training. Cole Davila: A lot of attorneys, a lot of law students at least, they need to be in charge. Which isn't an inherently bad thing, but if you don't take orders from other people well, then military obviously isn't going to be good for you. Some people can be commanded. Some people can't. Some people can step into a leadership shoe. Some people can't, and it's just the way it is. I think I can. And hopefully the military agrees. [team gathers in van and drives from the hotel to the courthouse] Student: Morning. Jasmin Olguin: Andy and I had some good conversations this morning, just about the rounds and us as people, I guess too. So, I feel like we got pretty deep on sometimes. So Andy's advice is don't try to be somebody you're not, basically. I'm not going to get intimidated by case law. I'm not going to get intimidated. Student: Amen. Hell yeah. That's it. That's the vibe. Andy Vizcarra: [inaudible 00:29:37] today? 9:00 am, win semi. 2:00 pm, win championship. [inside courthouse, team enters elevator to the large conference room] Andy Vizcarra: Don't accept any of the premises that they give you. Jasmin Olguin: Tell me more. Andy Vizcarra: Huh? Jasmin Olguin: Tell me your little three things. Andy Vizcarra: The law tries to codify equity. Your Miranda argument is strong. It should not be overcome by anything. Jasmin Olguin: It doesn't. Because we... Andy Vizcarra: Never accept the premise. Never back down. Jasmin Olguin: Can you go to the record with me again? Don't hate me please could you just call me [inaudible 00:30:18]. Andy Vizcarra: I'm not worried. Just get us to 2:00 pm. Jasmin Olguin: Coaches told me the thing about me is I have a... I think he said sweet disposition. I go up there and I'm like sweet and everything, or not sweet, but I don't seem all aggressive, but then when it comes down to it, I can do it. The thing that I love about the law is that the purpose is to obviously keep the community safe, but also to uphold justice and fairness. But I personally do know attorneys who are like that. They don't care about their clients. Not one bit at all. I want to be a difference. If somebody were to hire me instead of this other attorney, that could actually affect their case. I don't know what my purpose is. We're all finding it out every day, but, I think one of my purposes has got to be to make the world a better place. Has got to be to change lives, because one attorney could really change a life. [team huddle in hallway before next round] Andy Vizcarra: I just want to remind you that we beat that girl in Best in Texas. Jasmin Olguin: I know. Andy Vizcarra: Okay. Jason Goss: So it's the two girls now. Andy Vizcarra: Yeah. Jason Goss: Okay. Jason Goss: Yeah. So, y'all know where to stand. You know where to do, you know all this stuff. Jason Goss: This is fun. I mean, it's stressful, but it's fun. I mean all we can prepare you for is to break, because once you're in the break ground, you're always going against a school that's as good as you are. Jason Goss: It doesn't matter who the advocates are. You all understand the program, you watched it all yesterday. So y'all went through it all yesterday. So, it's only about those little things that are happening and who your judges are. And so there's so many variables that right now, we're just all hanging on for the ride. Jason Goss: And you got to win to break. The whole idea is that the person who is calmest, the team who is most professional, and the most calm, is going to be the one that wins. The one who confidently goes through and does what they're doing is going to be the one that wins. Jasmin Olguin: You got it. I got it. Yeah, you're right. Andy Vizcarra: You know all of them. It's just style, whatever feels right in that moment. Like we could tell you, "Yeah, maybe just give it the..." Jasmin Olguin: That helps me first. [Jasmin pops gum] Andy Vizcarra: It's really going to like, yeah. Speak first, strike first, strike hard. Like no mercy. Do not be chewing that gum [inaudible 00:32:48]. Jasmin Olguin: I'm about to spit it out. I'm getting it all out now. Andy Vizcarra: He's like "Oh my god it's going to be crazy." Cole Davila: Your Honor [acting like chewing gum making loud noise] Jasmin Olguin: Your Honor [acting like chewing gum making loud noise] [inside courtroom, next round begins] Judge, Scott West: So good morning, everybody. Cole Davila: Morning your Honor. Judge, Scott West: So this is going to be a good case. This is going to be a good opportunity for all of you advocates. I hear great things about you. So my bailiff got fired because of bad attitude. So do we have somebody who can keep time for us? Katie Phang, host: Andy. Who's kind of losing it at this point because she's dying to compete, volunteers. Andy Vizcarra: I can go ahead and keep time for us. Judge, Scott West: Is that all right? So I have a new bailiff finally. The last one only lasted three days. Apparently I'm a tyrant. Katie Phang, host: Andy takes a seat in the jury box. It's the perfect spot to keep an eye on her teammates. Jasmin Olguin: Eventually you did call the narcotics unit. Patrol Officer: I did. Jasmin Olguin: Because you had a dream that maybe one day I could move from being a patrol officer to the narcotics unit. Patrol Officer: Yes. Jason Goss: Jasmin has kind of come into herself. And I think at the beginning, she was very quiet and not sure of herself. And she has improved leaps and bounds. She's way better right now than she's ever been. Jasmin Olguin: ...be a bad person. Timmy lied because he was a victim of the system. But the state has based their entire case on these lies. If the detective on scene doesn't do their job, who else is supposed to? That's on the detective. That's on the state, to investigate properly. That is not the country that we live in today. Judge, Scott West: All four of you, just your movements were good. You anchored, you were repetition. You used each other's themes against each other. All of that was good. So again, congratulations on getting this far. It was very tough to judge. There's got to be a winner and there's got to be a loser. And I can already tell you that there's a difference as to very small percentage as to who won and who lost, but all four of you won. So, congratulations. [team huddles in hallway] Andy Vizcarra: I was trying to smile but I can't be making faces at you with them watching. Jasmin Olguin: I wanted to cry, I was like she doesn't like it. Andy Vizcarra: No, I just can't be like... I couldn't smile at you. Jasmin Olguin: ...Disappointed face, and I was like... Andy Vizcarra: No, I was trying to help. Jasmin Olguin: ...On my way to cry. Andy Vizcarra: I was trying to be a bailiff. I was like, I can't react to this. Jasmin Olguin: Yes. Maritza Stewart: What going on right now? Andy Vizcarra: How do you feel? Jasmin Olguin: I feel like I stumbled in motions and it just... Andy Vizcarra: No, you didn't. Jasmin Olguin: You sure? Andy Vizcarra: Yeah. Jasmin Olguin: Okay. Cole Davila: I have no idea. Andy Vizcarra: I'm going to vomit. Jasmin Olguin: Do you have any idea? Andy Vizcarra: I'm going to barf. Andy Vizcarra: I don't know. I thought presiding was with you the whole time. Even though he was overruling stuff. He got a little gleam in his eyes, especially like when Cole... judges love Cole, especially presiding, just because he has that thing. You believe him. You believe him. Cole Davila: I don't know if the judges liked it or not. You know, you can't really tell by just comments alone. Right? Sometimes the judge will crap on your team and just criticize you. And then you found out that they had you winning by 30 points. So you don't, we don't know until we get the ballots back. Andy Vizcarra: You killed them with kindness. Exactly. Like we talked about and that's really powerful. And for them, yeah, they were trying to bully us, but the sun came out and that's what I'm working with. Because I did manifest that for today. I did not look at the weather forecast. So, I mean there's a chance. There's a chance. And if there's a chance and we knocked out Baylor, we're going to have a hoot. Jasmin Olguin: We did the best you think. Andy Vizcarra: Yes. Jasmin Olguin: It was a good round. Andy Vizcarra: How did you feel? Jasmin Olguin: I feel like, well, I'm going to cry again. I feel like maybe I disappointed everybody. Andy Vizcarra: No. Why do you think that? Jasmin Olguin: Just because emotions. Like I got tongue tied a little bit. Andy Vizcarra: No you didn't. Cole Davila: You didn't you called the defendant, Tom. Andy Vizcarra: They were like, "bah, bah, bah" and you were like... Cole Davila: Several times... Andy Vizcarra: ..."Your Honor, bada, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da". You were good. Jasmin Olguin: Seem like the whole trial? Andy Vizcarra: No you didn't seem shaky. You were calm, because the whole entire time you were like, and you smiled, you went up there. You were like, okay, let's talk about... I was like, yeah, we're killing them with logic today. Okay. Okay. Jasmin Olguin: That was great. Andy Vizcarra: Okay. Okay. Good. Cole Davila: Yeah. Andy Vizcarra: We're good. Cole Davila: Jury's taking days to deliberate. [all teams gather in large conference room for announcements on break to final rounds] Jasmin Olguin: You're like... Andy Vizcarra: No, my heart, my heart is in my throat, which is my stomach is in my heart. I don't know. That's how yeah. Jason Goss: Everybody get something to eat a little bit. Well, no, I did actually think that like one time. Jasmin Olguin: She's here. She's here. She's here. Judge Christine Weems: All right, all the judges come up. Judge Christine Weems: Yeah, I think so. Judge 3: We're here. Judge Christine Weems: All right everybody. Some very, very well fought battles. We are super proud of every one of y'all please. It's always hard because every time you advance, somebody's got to go home. And in this instance, obviously four teams have to go home and four are moving on to the finals. These are the teams that are moving on into the finals. And there are two final rounds. In the 295th on prosecution. It will be team 349, Baylor versus team 346, South Texas College of Law on defense. [crowd cheer and applause] In the 333rd courtroom team 176 Texas will go prosecution against team 163 St. Mary's. [crowd cheer and applause] Congratulations to all of you. For those of you who do not advance, y'all want a six pack of beer. Seriously. We got tons. He's already like, I already got one. I ain't competing today. Jason Goss: So they said, Texas, what did they say, Texas two? Andy Vizcarra: I don't remember. I just heard Texas. I blacked out after they said we weren't prosecution. Jason Goss: I know. Jasmin Olguin: I did too because... Jason Goss: Cole. Did they say Texas two or Texas one? Cole Davila: I don't remember. Andy Vizcarra: It's probably... is it the Texas where the guy won best prosecutor? Probably, because he was Texas. Jason Goss: He was South Texas. It was Texas. Andy Vizcarra: Is it a coin toss on what side we go. Jason Goss: It was defense. It has to do with seatings, the pairings, where we were... Andy Vizcarra: Oh okay. Jason Goss: It's an automatic flip. So it had nothing to do with us. It had to do with where they were. So... Cole Davila: We are going, I think it's UT. I'm not sure how the bracket works, but that's what we're doing now. They're going to prosecution, we're going defense and UT School of Law is like one of the best in the country, overall. I don't care that I beat Baylor I need to beat these guys. Kristen Cabrera, producer: I know I was wondering about, yeah. I was like, oh man, you must be like hanging, chomping at the bits. Andy Vizcarra: I'm just like, I was so happy that we were advancing that I didn't care. You know? Because advancing is advancing. But yeah, it's hard. You're fighting the feeling of not crying, like that's the super bowl and I got benched and it wasn't even by choice and it wasn't my coach and it wasn't my teammates. That's just how the cookie crumbled. I'm proud of us no matter what, but it's hard. It's hard. [inside courtroom for final round to begin] Judge Christine Weems: All rise in the 308, the session, the Honorable Gloria E. López presiding. Augustus Talkington: Good afternoon, your Honor. My name is Augustus Talkington along with my co-council, Nicholas Lowrey. It is our privileged to represent the State of Lone Star today. Jasmin Olguin: Good afternoon, your Honor. My name is Jasmine Olguin. That is O L G U I N. And I, along with my co-counsel... Cole Davila: Good afternoon, your Honor. My name is Cole Davila, C O L E D A V I L A. Jasmin Olguin: We represent the defendant Mr. Timmy Williams. Katie Phang, host: It's Sunday. All of the other regional tournaments in the country have been decided. All eyes are on Texas. Both teams are exhausted. None more than Cole who has argued this case five times already. The courtroom is packed with spectators, alumni and parents. All are leaning in only one of the teams in this courtroom will get an automatic bid to the National Championship. Augustus Talkington: Members of the jury. Today, the evidence will show that the defendant owned illegal drugs. More than this. He intended to deliver those illegal drugs into this very community… Cole Davila: While opposing counsel is making their opening statements, while I am making mine, during all the witnesses, all of the evidence, during closing arguments, and even while you are deliberating, Timmy Williams is presumed to be innocent. It is not supposed to be easy to convict somebody, because we do not want the police and the government to simply take the easy way out and grab the first person they saw that day… Augustus Talkington: The question that the defense is going to ask you is who lived in that apartment? Now we, as the state will show that the defendant lived in that apartment. Now the defense is going to come up here and they're going to tell you a story about how the defendant's brother and his wife and kids lived in that apartment, but ask yourself, does this story make sense?.. Cole Davila: Now you see you're going to hear from officer Perez that they took those two bags of cocaine from that nightstand, walked them downstairs, found some scales, placed them on the scales, lined up the shot and took photographs… Jasmin Olguin: One of your rules as a patrol officer is to give out traffic tickets. You don't investigate scenes that involve narcotics. You're not trained to handle narcotics. You became excited when you saw that cocaine. Patrol Officer 2: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I'm doing my job. This is what I signed up for. Augustus Talkington: You lied to the police to get out of trouble. Fair? Witness: Very fair. Jasmin Olguin: Very objection, your Honor. This has been asked and answered. Judge: Overruled. Augustus Talkington: I'll ask the question again. You lied to the police to get out of trouble using your brother's license. Witness: That is correct. My... Cole Davila: Objection, hearsay to the statements of the officers. Judge: Sustained. Cole Davila: Objection, asked and answered. Judge: Sustained. Cole Davila: Objection, ask and answered. Judge 2: Overruled. Jason Goss: And they're doing it. They're coming out and executing and that's all I can ask. Just don't sit down and sweat and pass out. Katie Phang, host: Have you ever loved your team so much that you can't even watch them in the biggest game of the season, but you keep checking the score anyway. Well that's Jason Goss. He's pacing up and down the hallway. He quietly slips into the back of the courtroom gets anxious, comes back out, sits down, stands up, starts pacing again. Jason Goss: I saw Jasmin's cross. I thought it was great. She did a really good job, stayed really cool, which is important. If Cole held his own in opening, then if it's close, the closing will decide it. Nicholas Lowrey: May it please the court, counsel, members of the jury. Timmy Williams was found with two and a half grams of cocaine and all of his supplies for delivering that cocaine right into this community. And instead of accepting the fact that he was caught, he lied. And as I walk through each of these elements, I will discuss what those words mean. But just remember that it simply breaks down into presence of the cocaine, possession of the cocaine, and intent to deliver the cocaine. Jasmin Olguin: Objection, your Honor. This is a misstatement of the law. It's not presence that was established. This element. The element is just possession, which is actual care, custody and control. Not just presence as opposing counsel has stated two times already. Judge: Sustained. Just rephrase counsel, keep going. Nicholas Lowrey: Your Honor. If I may be heard? Judge: Nope. Nicholas Lowrey: Okay. Jasmin Olguin: We can either do what is right? Or what is easy. The state did what was easy. The members of the jury, today, we were asking you to do what is right. This failure to investigate who actually lived there, this manipulation of the evidence, that's not beyond a reasonable doubt. The state has not met their burden today. We're asking you to do what is right. And when you see this verdict form, we ask that you find Timmy Williams, not guilty. Judge: Anything further from either side? Jasmin Olguin: No, your Honor. Judge: All right. Jury charge has been submitted to the jury. Court is done recess while they deliberate. Cole Davila: Thanks, your Honor. [team huddles in hallway during break] Cole Davila: If it is my last round, then it's my last round. If it's not, it's not. Either way I have to do the best I can, right? Finish out on a high note, or a strong note, or do nothing and then guarantee to be finished. But I know that my future is going to be doing this for real, so it's end of mock trial, but it's going to be the start of real trial. Jasmin Olguin: It was good. It was a fun round. I learned from my mistakes yesterday. And I really did go in here thinking this is the last round I could ever do for mock trial. This right here. And I knew that. I was like, I have to give it my all. [inside courtroom after end of round] Judge: Absolutely. Congratulations to everybody. Cole Davila: It was such a great experience. Judge: You guys are amazing. Really. Judge: Yeah. That's good stuff. Judge: Amazing. Amazing. Cole Davila: Thank you. Judge: Great to meet you. Great performance. Really good. Judge: As most of the judges will tell you if you got them aside. You're better than 90% of the lawyers that appear in the courtroom. Judge: 90% is accurate. Judge: It's true. It's true. Judge: We love it. Judge: I am very encouraged about the future. Be good guardians of the seventh amendment because it's under attack. So, be very good guardians of that. Speaker 20: That's right. Judge: Preserve that right to the jury in this country because people are trying to erode it and we're leaving it in your hands. Speaker 20: ...really takes a stand on it. Cole Davila: We'll protect it sir. Judge: We're leaving it in your hands. Cole Davila: Sir. [all teams gather inside large conference room for announcement of break] Judge Christine Weems: We have people from all 14. We have St Mary's. Andy Vizcarra: Here. Judge Christine Weems: We have Texas. Yes. UT Austin: Here. Judge Christine Weems: We have South Texas College of Law, yes? South Texas: Yes. Judge Christine Weems: We have Baylor, yes? Baylor: Yes. Judge Christine Weems: Wonderful, delightful. Congratulations. You guys. You made to the very end. I can't tell you how thrilled I am that we are done. But, needless to say, I am tremendously proud of all of you. The rounds you did, the work you did. I know you guys have worked so fricking hard to get to this moment where two of y'all will be going to Scenic Fort Worth in April. In the round of 349 Baylor versus 346 South Texas College of Law. It's going to be 346 South Texas.[crowd cheer and applause] In the round of 176 versus 163, the winner was 176 Texas.[crowd cheer and applause Baylor coach: Congratulations. Absolutely great job. Great weekend for you all. Judge Christine Weems: Congratulations. AJ Bellido de Luna: Go represent us well at Nationals. Maritza Stewart: Congratulations. Coach: Congratulations! Jason Goss: Go get it. Represent us. Go represent man. Represent. That was a tough climb. Jason Goss: I mean, they, they were good. They were solid. They deserve to be there. They deserve to be in the final. They deserve to represent us in national. So. You would've too. Y'all are gladiators and y'all got in there and I mean killed it. And at the end of the day they just had a team that didn't make mistakes really. They were just, you know... AJ Bellido de Luna: This hurts. I knew we weren't going to, I mean, I know what happened. I think you're an idiot if you don't know what happened. So. Producer: But they made it this far. AJ Bellido de Luna: No, fantastic. Right. We've always said that the road of the Championship goes through Baylor. And we did that. And it was a real emotional high. And we didn't help them get ready for that next one. We didn't separate the two. I mean, because you saw some mistakes immediately, that you hadn't seen all weekend, except for the first round. They were still good. They were still competitive. And it's only a couple of point difference between the ballots. But I think the emotional high of one, making the break, and then two, beating the number two team in the country and a team that has dominated this region for 12 years. It was a real emotional high. And I really thought that we were... don't count your chickens, right? And then I was watching it on the simulcast and I realized that we just can't. God, I wanted to win. And I wanted to win for them. Andy Vizcarra: It's hard. And my reaction has nothing to do with my teammates. It's just really hard. It's just like how the cookie crumbled. You know? Jasmin Olguin: I don't understand how we lost to them. I need to talk to coach. What happened? What went wrong? Cole Davila: I think that was probably my poorest round of this tournament. I don't know, kept it up for all these rounds. And then something slipped. That's going to probably be something that haunts me for a while. Andy Vizcarra: You were a better swing than I could ever be. Cole Davila: Learned it all from you. I'm glad to have made it back on the team with such a good captain. Hey, no one else could do it like you. I'll never forget that. I'll always be grateful. Always. Andy Vizcarra: Stop. I'm already crying Cole. Cole Davila: Yeah, but some things need to be said. Andy Vizcarra: Thanks buddy. Of course. Cole Davila: That's what friends are for. [end of day, team heads into van to make the drive back home to San Antonio] Student Cole. I honestly am still very confident in your abilities. Student: Is that what you said? Cole Davila: I don't particularly want to be a lawyer. Jasmin Olguin: Well, right now I don't want to do anything. Are you feeding us? AJ Bellido de Luna: Of course. I mean, I think that's cruel and inhumane to not be. That would be real cold. Student: Well, you know what? You didn't feed us when we left. AJ Bellido de Luna Do we have a head count? Is everyone in the van? Jasmin Olguin: Yes. AJ Bellido de Luna: Seatbelt please. Jason Goss: We got six advocates and Kristen. AJ Bellido de Luna: Seat belts please. Good. All right. Okay. You took down the bear. You took down the king. That's awesome. That is completely awesome. And I mean, God, you cannot have been closer. Just could not have been closer. I think you guys should hold your heads really high. Katie Phang, host: AJ drives the team home. It's quiet in the van. This time there isn't the chatting, the phone calls, the joking around. For the three L's. The mock trial season is ending. They'll move on to finish classes, take the bar exam, get jobs. They've just gone through an amazing weekend with the highest levels of achievement, a lot of surprises, and heartbreak at the end. But through it all, it's forged, even stronger bonds between them. Almost more than anything else, the story of the St. Mary's mock trial team, is a story of friendship. AJ Bellido de Luna: All right, here we go. On the road again. Can't wait to get back on the road again. C'mon everybody sing along. [singing] Jason Goss: …I love is making music...[singing] Jasmin Olguin: I'll do the background. Andy Vizcarra: When we were in the courthouse and Jasmin goes, "You were in choir? That's a conversation for another day." [audio tease for Episode 11] Andy Vizcarra: You ever feel like you've been in a boxing match with the person that taught you how to box. It's not...Yeah, it's a lot. Jason Goss: It's kind of like going against a child or something where, you're proud of them, but you're also trying to beat them. And I do want to beat them because I think it's justice for my client. Katie Phang [narration]: That's next time on Class Action. Class Action is a production of iHeartRadio and sound argument. Created, produced, written and edited by Kevin Huffman and Lisa Gray. Executive producers are Taylor Chicoine and Katrina Norvelle. Sound, design, editing, and mixing by Evan Tyor and Taylor Chicoine. This episode had additional field production by Kristen Cabrera and Alfredo De La Garza. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your favorite shows. # END Previous Next