[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/greenberglawyers.com\/blog\/park-school-wins-national-high-school-mock-trial-championship\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/greenberglawyers.com\/blog\/park-school-wins-national-high-school-mock-trial-championship\/","headline":"Park School Wins National High School Mock Trial Championship","name":"Park School Wins National High School Mock Trial Championship","description":"By: Steve Lash Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer June 3, 2021 The Park School in Pikesville has won the 2021 National High School Mock Trial Championship\u00a0after a two-hour \u201ccourtroom\u201d battle held virtually last month against the Iowa state champion. Park School qualified for the nationwide event after defeating River Hill High School of Clarksville in […]","datePublished":"2021-06-14","dateModified":"2025-04-15","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/greenberglawyers.com\/blog\/author\/greenberglawoffices\/#Person","name":"Greenberg Law Offices","url":"https:\/\/greenberglawyers.com\/blog\/author\/greenberglawoffices\/","identifier":7,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0d600bf0d0a422eeda2a75c9d4b0240b93a50067ae011d1484f7dfed7467653?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0d600bf0d0a422eeda2a75c9d4b0240b93a50067ae011d1484f7dfed7467653?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Greenberg Law Offices","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/greenberglawyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/greenberg-logo.png","url":"https:\/\/greenberglawyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/greenberg-logo.png","width":301,"height":94}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/greenberglawyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/park-school-wins-national-high-school-mock-trial-championship.jpg","url":"https:\/\/greenberglawyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/park-school-wins-national-high-school-mock-trial-championship.jpg","height":334,"width":619},"url":"https:\/\/greenberglawyers.com\/blog\/park-school-wins-national-high-school-mock-trial-championship\/","about":["In The News"],"wordCount":603,"articleBody":"By: Steve Lash Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer June 3, 2021The Park School in Pikesville has won the 2021 National High School Mock Trial Championship\u00a0after a two-hour \u201ccourtroom\u201d battle held virtually last month against the Iowa state champion.Park School qualified for the nationwide event after defeating River Hill High School of Clarksville in March in Maryland\u2019s mock trial competition. This year marked the first time Maryland has sent a team to the national tournament, which was based out of Evansville, Indiana.\u201cThis went beyond our highest expectations,\u201d said Tony Asdourian, head coach of Park School\u2019s team. \u201cIt makes me very proud as a coach. They (the team) took it to another level.\u201dIn the championship round, Park School was tasked with defending \u201cSmith Dawson,\u201d a shipping company owner and boater charged with reckless homicide and leaving the scene of an accident after allegedly ramming a fishing boat while speeding to make a delivery.Iowa City High School, cast as the prosecution, described Dawson as a boater who was \u201cfull speed ahead\u201d in trying to provide on-time delivery for her financially troubled company and cared not that she rammed a boat that was in her way, killing fisherman \u201cJamie Hunter.\u201dBut Park School student Lucy Demsky, in a spirited opening statement, focused on the prosecution\u2019s lack of \u201ca single witness\u201d and on the possibility that a third vessel \u2013 a speedboat \u2014 on the water that night rammed the fishing boat and killed Hunter.\u201cAll the state has are guesses and guesses just aren\u2019t good enough and they don\u2019t prove guilt,\u201d Demsky told the panel of 11 \u201cjurors,\u201d who also judged the competition.Aidan Connors \u2014 Demsky\u2019s teammate, schoolmate and co-captain \u2014 stuck with that defense theme in her closing argument. She stated that the prosecution\u2019s \u201centire story is based on guesses\u201d regarding what happened on the night of May 4, 2019.\u201cPossibilities, uncertainty and coincidences just aren\u2019t good enough,\u201d Connors said before reiterating Demsky\u2019s mantra: \u201cGuesses just aren\u2019t good enough and they certainly don\u2019t prove guilt.\u201dPark School outscored Iowa City High School on nine of the 11 judges\u2019 cards.U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young of Southern Indiana, who presided over the \u201ctrial,\u201d praised the competitors for their stellar presentations, adding that after more than 30 years on the bench he \u201ccan tell when someone\u2019s prepared and someone\u2019s not.\u201dEn route to the final round, Park School defeated high schools from Florida, Ohio, Georgia and Illinois.Once registered for the national competition, the 15-member Park School team received details of the mock case on April 1, which gave them and the other 45 competitors only about six weeks to prepare their arguments and witnesses as both the prosecution and the defense, because each team can be assigned to represent either side in any round of the competition.\u201cIt was all hands on deck\u201d for those weeks of preparation, said Asdourian, who teaches physics and math at Park School. \u201cThe kids dove right in.\u201dAsdourian\u2019s assistant coaches were James Wyda, the federal public defender for Maryland; Maryland District Court Judge Guido Porcarelli; and attorney Matthew B. Rogers of\u00a0Greenberg Law Offices\u00a0in Baltimore.Demsky, who graduates this month, said law school is \u201cdefinitely not out of the picture\u201d but \u201cas of right now the plan is to go to medical school\u201d after college at Washington University in St Louis.The annual Maryland State Bar Association Statewide High School Mock Trial Competition, which began in 1983, is sponsored by the Baltimore-based Maryland Youth & the Law, a nonprofit organization that backs programs to teach students about the law and judicial system."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/greenberglawyers.com\/blog\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Park School Wins National High School Mock Trial Championship","item":"https:\/\/greenberglawyers.com\/blog\/park-school-wins-national-high-school-mock-trial-championship\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]