PMA’s prosecution team Eryn Recklai, Bieal Chen and Mickey Chang take home the travelling trophy for presenting the best closing argument to prove their case in connection to a man who was on trial for arson.
The prosecution team and the defense team also from PMA competed for the final round besting four other schools namely Mindzenty High School, Palau High School, Belau Modekngei School and Emmaus High School.Each team was given ten minutes to present their closing arguments and the team was scored based on the criteria: Organization and preparation, courtroom presentation and presentation of the merits. Associate Justice Kathleen Salii, Senior Judge Honora Remengesau-Rudimch and Senior Judge Quay Polloi were the judges of the competition.The competition started at 9 am and ended at 2 pm.Mindzenty’s prosecution and Emmaus High School defense were the first team to present their argument during the first round of competition followed by Palau High School and Belau Modekngei High School.Palau Mission Academy competed with the defense team of Mindzenty in the third round while Emmaus prosecution team competed with Palau High School’s defense team in the fourth round.Fifth round was between Belau Modekngei School and Palau Mission Academy.The students were given one month to prepare for the case which was about a worker who was charged with arson for burning his employer’s barracks in Melekeok.PMA’s defense team argued that the accused Ricky Rogelio set the fire to get the authorities attention because his employer was not paying him his salary and the accused was already starving.The Judges who deliberated for more than 30 minutes returned a guilty verdict and agreed with the prosecution team that the accused committed the crime of arson.PMA’s defense team was Jessica Kim, Haerin Jung and Micah Fyers.Mickey Chung in an interview said that the exercises were nice experience and he and his team members were all nervous during the competition.“I got surprised when the Judges declared us the winner. It was a good experience for all of us. I learned how the court works and the different perspective of court cases,” the 19-year-old senior student said.Junior student Micah Fyers in a separate interview said that he learned that even if the law says that a person is guilty, there is a possibility that he could be acquitted from his charges if he will have a good defense.Eusebio Rechucher, 18, senior student at Emmaus said he find the job of a lawyer a difficult one.“I don’t like to be a lawyer,” he smiled.The competition was sponsored by the Palau Bar Association in observance of the Law Day.J. Uduch Sengebau Senior, the Bar Association’s president said because of the success of the moot court competition they are planning to do it a yearly event.“I’m very happy of the outcome, the students did a wonderful job, they are all good and I would like to thank everyone for all the support and for making this competition possible,”she said.Susan Kenney-Pfalzer was the chairperson of the Moot Court Committee. The coaches were Yukiwo Dengokl and Oldias Ngiraikelau for Mindzenty High School; Carlos Salii and Rachel Dimitruk for Palau High School; Nelson Werner and Siegfried Chiko Nakamura for Belau Modekngei School; Michael Copeland and Clara Kalscheur for Palau Mission Academy and Imelda Nakamura and John Rechucher for Emmaus High School.The team members were Cassilee Adelbai, Biusech Tabelual, Zachary Sugiyama, Jamaal Tewid, Michelle Ueda and Andrew Polloi for Mindzenty; Pollar Idesou, Demei Yobech, Limei Ruluked, Lasker Chin, Zonia Kotaro and Bernard Klewei for PHS; Jerry Ebas, Lago Marcino Tadao, Kinson Mariur, Jordan Yuri, Karine Tebei, Tara Higa for BMS; Dominic Choay, Cedric Wasisang, Herman Ngiratreked, Bris Ulechong, Eusebio Rechucher and Brunton Teriong for Emmaus.
