PROVIDENCE -- Students arguing about a hockey high-sticking violation filled the courthouse over the weekend.
The students grilled witnesses, debated game regulations and offered evidence -- all to earn points.
The 176 students from 13 colleges and universities were participating in the Second Annual Roger Williams University and Brown University Mock Trial Invitational Tournament.
The two-day event, sponsored by the universities' undergraduate mock trial teams, allowed students to experience the lawyer's role in a real courtroom setting -- the Licht Judicial Complex, said Jon Shelburne, a trial advocacy professor at the Roger Williams University School of Law.
"The biggest benefit given to those students is the opportunity to work with a fact pattern, develop communication skills, think on their feet, work with others and meet other students," Shelburne said.
The tournament, which was judged by local lawyers, prosecutors and judges, consists of four rounds of three-hour trials, according to Shelburne.
The students were given about two months to prepare a case selected by the American Mock Trial Association. All teams were given the same case involving a hockey high-sticking incident that resulted in the death of a hockey player. The player was struck in the head and died, Shelburne said.
Students argued self-defense, first-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, negligence and a simple game accident, Shelburne said.
Teams from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, and Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, won the top three slots in the team competition. The Brown University team placed seventh.
Roger Williams students John Porter placed second in the attorney competition and Courtney Montiero, president of the university's mock trial team, placed third in the witness competition.
