Fort Mill Middle School competing for SC Mock Trial title

Fort Mill Middle School is among 12 middle school teams throughout the state competing in the SC Bar State Middle School Mock Trial Competition Dec. 2-3 at the Marc H. Westbrook Lexington County Judicial Center.

At the state competition, students will present the prosecution and defense sides of a fictitious criminal case before a panel of local volunteer lawyers and judges. This year’s case is State of South Carolina v. Langley Parker. The case questions who is liable when Jackie Weaver dies of a heart attack during a prank-gone-bad during the filming of a web-based reality series. Students will fill the roles of attorneys, witnesses, bailiffs and timekeepers, and each team will be judged on its presentation skills, rather than the legal merits of the case.

One winning team from each of the four regions and eight wild card teams, representing the next highest scoring teams from all regions, have advanced to the state competition. Fort Mill Middle was the winner in the Nov. 5 Greenville Regional Competition.

The team is coached by local attorneys Gary Lemel and Nathan Sheldon and lead teacher coach is Amanda Van Valkenburgh. Lemel and Sheldon also coach the Nation Ford High School Mock Trial Team.

This story was originally published December 2, 2016 at 1:53 PM with the headline "Fort Mill Middle School competing for SC Mock Trial title."