Mock Trial Team educated by Douglas County district attorney Mark Fruehauf

Douglas County District Attorney Mark Fruehauf educates on rules of evidence to Mock Trial team members.

The Mock Trial team will travel to the first Upper Midwest invitational at the University of Minnesota UMNUMB tournament October 12-14

“Julian, what is the rule of hearsay?” asked Douglas County District Attorney Mark Fruehauf, a member of the UW-Superior Mock Trial coaching staff. Fruehauf spent Sunday evening practice on September 30 educating the Mock Trial team members on the rules of evidence as part of the 2018-2019 American Mock Trial Association national case of Midlands Television Studies, Inc. v. Danny Kosack.

Mock Trial is an academic, forensic and competitive activity that teaches undergraduate students about analyzing, presenting and defending a case to the trial court judge and jury. UW-Superior is a member of the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) along with over 650 other universities and colleges from around the United States. Mock Trial is the largest undergraduate student teaching and learning activity other than athletics and involves thousands of collegiate students in learning about the law and justice system.

This year’s national case is a civil case of negligence.  Midlands Television Studios is suing animal trainer Danny Kosack for the violent and deadly outburst by his trained chimpanzee at a television show rehearsal. One person died. The question is who’s responsible? Did the animal trainer Danny Kosack do a professional job in properly training the chimpanzee prior to the show? Did the television show do an adequate job in preparing their studio staff for the appearance of an animal on the show? Who needs to pay for the death of the staff member? These are the legal questions of negligence posed in this multi-million dollar case.

One of the best parts of the Mock Trial experience is working directly with law and justice professionals including attorneys, judges, paralegals and other practitioners in the region.  

“Mock Trial is one of the best applied and active learning activities because students are educated and assessed directly by legal professionals. In this way, they are doing simulated learning at a very high level,” said Maria Cuzzo, head coach of the Mock Trial team.  

The Mock Trial team practices five hours per week on Sunday and Thursday evenings. The team will travel to the first Upper Midwest invitational at the University of Minnesota UMNUMB tournament the weekend of October 12-14, 2018.

Members of this year’s Mock Trial team include veteran captains Autumn Bass, Kenneth Benz and Desiray Matthews; veteran members Bella Gigliotti and Scott Holmes; and newcomer members Julian Williams, Jeb Leone, Alex DeBlaey and Christopher Huard. Coaches include Cuzzo, Fruehauf, Cassy and Eric Burr (former national-level UW-Superior Mock Trial team members now volunteering) and local attorney and CASDA staff member Jaramy Hansen.

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