Mock Trial Part Three; Motion Arguments

“We are shocked,” Samantha said as she stood up. “That opposing counsel would even consider the fact that a duly appointed member of law enforcement, highly trained and in a position of trust in their community, would fail to perform even their most basic of duties when speaking with a member of the public. Based on the testimonies of both Officer Sanchez and Mr Greg Tribonello, there was no arrest made and therefore Mr Tribonello’s discussion with Officer Sanchez required no declaration of Miranda Rights. If opposing counsel is contending that Officer Sanchez had placed Mr Tribonello under arrest, then we would very much like to hear this from the Officer or Mr Tribonello themselves.”

So it was the Miranda Rights case, and Gemma had been right.

For having an hour to formulate their attack, you had kind of been expecting more. During your ‘from the opponent's point of view’ reviews over the weekend you’d come up with a couple more reasons they could have used - namely that Greg Tribonello had made a voluntary admission of guilt. Officer Sanchez hadn’t been asking him for a confession.

The problem was that Officer Sanchez might have said he was only detaining Tribonello, but that wasn’t quite the case.

“Rebuttal?” Judge Mathews asked, looking over at your table, and you stood up.

“Your Honour,” you said. “I believe that my friends have become somewhat zealous in their Defence and have forgotten to manage their expectations in terms of how the rule of law is applied outside of this courtroom. Officer Sanchez’s actions on the day in question very much reached the level of an arrest and therefore required the reading of Miranda Rights prior to any further questioning. Even though the word ‘arrest’ was never used, Officer Sanchez refused to allow Mr Tribonello his freedom of movement for an extended period without engagement, including ordering him to remain near the bumper of his police cruiser and then placing him inside the cruiser despite repeated requests by Mr Tribonello to leave. Two hours after arresting Mr Tribonello, Officer Sanchez then began an express line of questioning while Mr Tribonello was still in the back of the police cruiser, beginning a custodial interrogation by any reasonable reading of the definition. At this point, Mr Tribonello had been arrested, intimidated, and denied his rights. This may be civil and not criminal court, Your Honour, but we believe it is absolutely clear that anything Mr Tribonello said during the subsequent interrogation by Officer Sanchez is tainted beyond belief and should be suppressed.”

Judge Mathews was nodding along with your reasoning, then looked back to Samantha at the defence table. “Anything else to say, counsel?”

Samantha stood again. “Officer Sanchez placed Mr Tribonello in the police cruiser to get him out of the sun, not because he was under arrest. And the discussion Officer Sanchez engaged in had nothing to do with the admission of being at fault for the accident.”

“Not good enough, Miss Van Der Groot,” Judge Mathews said. “Not ‘meaning’ to kidnap someone doesn’t make it any less of a **** when you grab them off the street, throw them in your trunk and drive away. I’m granting the suppression of Mr Tribonello’s testimony and the alleged admission of guilt due to it being taken during a custodial interrogation lacking Miranda warnings. Officer Sanchez is not barred from testimony, but if you try and bring in the testimony I will not be happy.”

“Yes, Your Honour,” Samantha said, getting a spiteful look on her face as she sat back down.

“How about you, Mr Watkins?” Judge Mathews turned to look at you. “Thoughts on the Plaintiff’s motion?”

You glanced at Sabrina, who nodded for you to field it. “No, your Honour,” you said. “We have no issues with the findings of Officer Penholt being considered outside the scope of this case.”

“Excellent,” Judge Mathews nodded. “Then I grant the motion, and I’ll give you the same warning - if Officer Penholt hits this witness stand and you try to sneak the details back in, I will not be a happy camper. Understood?”

“Understood, Your Honour,” you nodded.

Judge Mathews nodded again, more definitively, and looked down at his notes as you sat. There wasn’t exactly an uproar coming from the Plaintiff's table, but you could tell by the quick, harsh whispers that there was some confusion in their ranks as to why you wouldn’t fight them on the discovery of the pot. There really wasn’t a good reason for it to be suppressed, but you’d handed them a ‘win’ and they weren’t sure why. It was all the little wins that could stack up into a proper victory.

But… this wasn’t a competition. Not like the Mock Trials run by a school or a conference. You, Gemma and Sabrina, were applying the lessons you’d learned from the first time Garrison agreed to mentor you - play the game in front of you, not the game you think should be there. Just like working together to finish that practice LSAT, you weren’t looking to score little points - scorecards didn’t matter in court, only the final decision. Judge Mathews was more than capable of keeping those scorecards blindfolded, but you had a feeling he didn’t really care about them. He was a retired Judge, here for the fun of it. He was used to working with professionals, and that’s how you wanted him to see you and your side of the case.

Gemma and Sabrina had both whispered their encouragement when you sat down, and you’d wanted to grab their hands under the table but you knew that just because the Judge might not see you do that, didn’t mean it would be hidden. Garrison and a dozen other lawyers from the firm were watching quietly from behind you. Some of them were working on laptops or their phones, and others were paying more attention to the goings on. No public, or secret, displays of affection were going to fly.

“Alright,” Judge Mathews said after he finished writing down some notes. “Pre-trial motions are now concluded, and we can get on to the case proper. We’re lacking a court clerk, so I’ll fill in the role myself and call this session to order. Counsel, are you prepared to make your case?”

“We are, Your Honour,” Tucker said, standing briefly and nodding.

“Defence is ready, Your Honour,” Sabrina nodded, standing as well.

“Good,” Judge Mathews said, then smirked a little. “I’d be concerned if you suddenly weren’t. Alright, we’ll begin with opening statements.”

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