CYPRESS : Team Gears Up by Trial and Error

Standing in a court room, Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan McNerney warned the six students sitting in front of him:

“I can guarantee all who are going to be crossed tonight are going to be beat up pretty bad.”

But it was an empty threat to the members of the Cypress High School Mock Trial Team, now veterans of many battles. The students, who play the roles of lawyers and witnesses, recently romped to victory at the State Mock Trial Competition, beating 47 schools for the title.

Sequestered with McNerney at the courthouse, they were gearing up for the National Championships on May 10 in New Orleans.

“I think we have a good chance,” whispered adviser John Gruendyke while carefully observing the team’s practice session. “We are used to hard competition. The kids seem to rise to it.”

Thirty-three states will be represented at the meet, with the Cypress team representing California.

Like actors in a complicated play, the eight team members will spend as many as 30 hours each during the next few weeks perfecting their roles before show time. There is a 50-page “script” containing the facts of the case, pertinent statutes and decisions previously handed down which must be memorized, analyzed and finally argued.

On practice night in McNerney’s courtroom, Jyoti Nanda, who presided as queen at the school prom last week, transformed herself into hard-nosed lawyer.

The issue: Do shrimpers have the right to use nets that may also catch endangered sea turtles, or must they incur the costs of providing safety devices which can also cause them to lose part of their catch?

“So,” Nanda grunted at fellow student David Brown who is sitting in the witness stand, “you want us to think of you as a sea turtle, don’t you? . . . That is what you said in your statement.”

Trying not to laugh, Brown, an environmental activist, replied: “No. I want you to think of me as an advocate of the sea turtle.”

Watching the exchange were Deputy Dist. Attys. McNerney and Gerald G. Johnston, who along with associate Marc Rozenberg serve as coaches. They teach the 13 members “lawyer-ese” as well as case law and courtroom etiquette.

Acting as a role model, McNerney carefully questioned a witness while the students watched.

It was the first rehearsal for the national contest, and there were a few glitches. For example, one student came under scrutiny because of the way she talked. “We are going to have to work on that,” said Gruendyke, the faculty adviser, after hearing student Amy Vaughn testify as a U.S. Coast Guard captain. “Coast Guard captains don’t talk like ‘Valley girls,’ ” he said.

During the past five months, the team has spent about 25 hours every week couped up in this tiny courtroom preparing for various competitions.

In New Orleans the students will be scored on the strength of their arguments, which they present in front of a jury of lawyers and judges. They have only 30 minutes for direct examination and 15 for cross-examination. The entire trial lasts one hour.

Team members--selected from a pool of about 20 applicants--squeeze in sports, part-time jobs and studying for finals. All are at the top of their classes. The combined grade-point average of the Cypress team is about 3.8.

Sitting in the hallway of the Orange County Courthouse, student attorney April Balangue practiced with student witness Stacey Brooks.

“There is a certain high when you are up there and you know you are doing good,” Balangue said. Brooks agreed. “It is great when they throw a really stupid question at you and they think they got you,” Brooks said. “It feels good.”