February
9, 2004
Miami
Mock Trial Sweeps To Sixth Consecutive Regional
Title
Miami Squads place 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th;
Two to Move on to National Championship Tournament
The Miami Mock Trial Team lay claim to its
sixth consecutive Mideast Regional title and
qualified the maximum two teams to the national
championship competition to be held April
2-4 in Des Moines, Iowa. Twenty-four teams
from fifteen colleges and universities competed
in the three day competition at the Butler
County Court of Common Pleas and Hamilton
Municipal Court at the Butler County Courthouse
in Hamilton. Miami’s four teams took
1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th with the University
of Cincinnati taking fourth place and the
third bid to the national tournament. Miami
was limited to only advancing two teams to
the national tournament as only two teams
from any one school may advance regardless
of the success of the teams at the regional
tournament.
Miami also took 11 individual awards of the
24 awarded. Miami students took 4 of the top
10 witness awards and 7 of the top 14 attorney
awards.
Schools competing with Miami included: Cincinnati,
Dayton, Thomas More, Kent State, Bowling Green,
Toledo, Ohio Wesleyan, Case Western Reserve,
Myers, Mount Union, Wittenberg, Lake Erie,
Wilmington, and Kenyon. Miami’s first
place team was the only undefeated team in
the competition claiming double victories
over Kent State, Mount Union, Toledo, and
Wittenberg.
This year’s case is a criminal one
in which the defendant Michael Harmon, a professional
hockey player, is charged with the murder
of a rival player Tony Sturmanis. Harmon high-sticked
Sturmanis during a playoff game while Sturmanis’
helmet was off, sending Sturmanis crashing
to the ice and to a fatal head injury. Harmon
can claim either self-defense or accident.
However, Sturmanis had been having an affair
with Harmon ex-wife and he had just been awarded
a lucrative contract that Harmon himself was
after. Witnesses available to be called in
trial include a referee from the game, Vickie
Harmon who is the ex-wife; the county coroner,
a second doctor who disagrees with the coroner,
the police detective who lead the investigation,
the owner of the hockey team that Sturmanis
for whom Sturmanis played, the sports agent
who represents both Sturmanis and Harmon,
as well as the defendant himself.
Miami’s individual award winners include
individuals tied for the top attorney and
top witness of the competition as well:
Jamie Smith (senior, secondary education
major) and Brad Keffer (senior, marketing
major) were the only two attorneys to get
perfect scores; Rick Ohl (junior political
science major) was one of three witnesses
to receive perfect scores. Ohl also received
an outstanding attorney award.
Other Miami award winners:
Ranjan Emani (junior, political science major):
outstanding attorney and outstanding witness
Veronica Ressler (junior, political science
major): outstanding attorney
Sarah Zielinski (senior general business/English
major): outstanding attorney
Kate Bowling (junior political science major):
outstanding attorney
Stefanie Baker (junior political science major):
outstanding witness
Emily Jablonski (senior English major) outstanding
witness
This is the seventh consecutive year Miami
has qualified the maximum of two team to the
national championship competition in Des Moines,
Iowa. Sixty-two other teams will join the
two Miami teams in Des Moines to compete for
the national championship. Over 450 teams
from nearly 250 colleges and universities
are currently competing at regional tournaments
throughout February to earn those sixty-four
slots. Miami finished second and eighth in
the 2003 national competition and claimed
the national championship in 2001.
The team is coached by Professors Dan Herron,
Wayne Staton, and Dan Haughey, business legal
studies faculty in the Department of Finance
in the Richard T. Farmer School of Business.
They are assisted by attorney Angela Haughey
and economics gradu
