News Detail
Justin Siena’s Mock Trial Team Takes the Stand
Six-time defending county champions grateful for the opportunity to get the season started.
By Sydney Wang '22
After two months of preparation and exhausting practices, Justin Siena’s Mock Trial team participated in the season’s first scrimmage. The Braves opposed the Sonoma Valley High School Dragons at Sonoma, concerning the case of The People vs. Matsumoto (case details can be found below). Mr. Justin Bernstein, JD, former president of the American Mock Trial Association and UCLA law professor, served as the presiding judge. At the scrimmage Justin-Siena represented the defense with Sonoma serving as the prosecution. Alexandria deLeuze ‘20, Isabella Epperson ‘23 and Whitney Powers ‘20 represented Bailey Matsumoto as his lawyers. Their witnesses, Esther Cottrell ‘20 as Bailey Matsumoto, Kaela De Guzman ‘22 as both Val Glick and Quinn Clampitt, and Lauren Aubert ‘20 as Dr. Amari Wolpert worked alongside our lawyers to a win against the Dragons.
Despite the victory, it was apparent to the Justin-Siena team what they needed to work on to continue winning trials. Attorney team captain Dante Cavaz ‘20 remarked, “Defense did really well although we still have a lot of memorization we need to do. We’re definitely going to need to practice over Christmas break.” Justin-Siena’s Mock Trial Coach Bill Hardy observed, “We need to make the stories more coherent so that the opening and closing statements align so that it lines up with the evidence.” Even with the critique, the team was able to focus on the things they did well during the trial. Coach Bill complimented, “We’re doing well with speaking clearly and understanding the case as a whole. We put in a lot of effort.”
After the scrimmage, Professor Bernstein led a workshop providing constructive criticism, showing the team areas where they could show individual and team growth. Esther Cottrell reflected on the workshop stating, “I felt that I learned techniques to make myself more sympathetic to the audience while still remaining credible.” Beginning with individual critiques for every participant of the trial, Professor Bernstein proceeded to lead a public speaking exercise to hone the oratory aspect of the team. Finishing the workshop with a lecture on direct examination, the Justin-Siena Mock Trial Team, walked out taking away a lot from the day. They look forward to taking the stand once again in January 2020, for the annual Nor Cal Mock Trial Competition in Menlo.
Case Details:
The People vs. Matsumoto deals with the murder of Bailey Matsumoto’s wife, Taylor. A marriage turned sour following their son’s death caused by crashing a prototype autonomous scooter Bailey built. The majority of their conflicts pertained to their differences in opinion regarding autonomous vehicles. Desi Kunstler, Bailey’s cousin as well as only surviving relative had witnessed a few of these arguments, as she lives in the guest house. After their son’s death, Taylor went on to create an organization known as “Parents Against Autonomous Driving” (PAAD), while Bailey proceeded with his autonomous trucks startup. This difference in opinion created a notable divide between the two and fights becoming increasingly more frequent. On Friday June 7, Bailey and Taylor got into an argument. The evening of this disagreement, Taylor had a meeting arranged at 7 o’clock with a member of PAAD. While Taylor was at the meeting, Bailey watched movies with Desi and his friend Val Glick in his in home theater.
Taylor was dropped off at Bailey’s mansion at 11 PM, visibly inebriated. Bailey had prepared a rose petal bath with champagne for Taylor before her arrival, about which Desi notified Taylor of. This bathtub is at ground level with two stacked marble ledges on opposite sides. The next morning, Taylor was found by Desi floating face down in the bathtub, dead from drowning. Police officers were called to the scene, with Detective Eisenburgh leading the investigation. The detective examined the body and found there to be a bruise running vertically at a slight angle on the back of Taylor’s head. During a house search, Eisenburgh found a golf club in Bailey’s car. Desi let Detective Eisenburgh in to search the guest house in which the detective discovered a script from Bailey’s career in the entertainment industry that involved a robot pushing its owner into a rose petal bathtub, making the murder appear to be an accident. From the information that Eisenburgh gathered, he arrested Bailey and charged him with the murder of Taylor Matsumoto.
Justin-Siena High School
Justin-Siena is a Lasallian Catholic college preparatory community that serves young people in grades 9–12.