The ACS Mock Trial team travelled north to Brick Township High School on December 16th to scrimmage with five Ocean County high schools. This is Atlantic Christian School’s fourth consecutive year in the statewide legal competition. At the season opener meeting, returning teacher-coach Rhapsody Hahn-Chaney was joined by Karyn White, esq., who served as lawyer-coach.
One week after the Brick Township invitational, Mrs. Hahn-Chaney hosted a debriefing meeting/Christmas party for the lawyers, witnesses, and jury members. Students brought homemade Christmas cookies to share and enjoyed a hot meal. After discussing the matches, students played chess as a six-foot-tall cardboard cutout of Dr. Suess’ The Grinch looked on. The Grinch fixture (donated by ACS Library after use at the 2022 Seussical-themed book fair) has humorously served as placeholder for the judge over the past three years of practices. Coaches and students speak on behalf of the Honorable Judge Grinch when it comes to procedures like pretrial conference, calling witnesses to the stand, and handling objections. Another fun tradition is the scheduled hot chocolate breaks which the team treats in the same way that law firms and corporate environments are known to utilize coffee breaks.
The team is preparing for its first two matches, which are set to take place on January 21st and January 22nd at the civil courthouse in Atlantic City. If the ACS team progresses to the next rounds, competitions will continue through the rest of January and February.
This year’s civil case, Capella v. Petzicon Products, Inc., deals with product liability. The fictional victim, a champion show dog named Sally, died shortly after being treated with a flea treatment. Sally’s owner, Carmen Capella, has instituted a civil lawsuit against Petzicon Products, Inc.
Our plaintiff team includes two lawyers (Justin Basso and Gabriella Goodwin), character witness (Lauren Einwechter) and two expert witnesses (Keira Frontino and Emily Abbott.
The defense team includes two lawyers (Joshua Kinch and Ethan Warren), defendant (Sophia Capito), and two expert witnesses (Yuyu Choi and Matthew Coates).
Three 8th graders attended the scrimmage to serve as members of the jury (Zy’Rainalyn Rogers, Julieta Gonzalez, Rebecca Ordonez).
Please check the ACS Mock Trial website for updates at mocktrial.acseht.org and show your support for our team this year! Registration for the 2025-2026 school year will open for 7-12 grade students in October 2025.