2012 Michigan High School Mock Trial Tournament

Presented with the Michigan Center for Civic Education

March 10, 2012—Regional Tournaments, Pontiac & Grand Rapids
March 24, 2012—State Finals, Lansing
May 5-8, 2012—National Mock Trial Championship, Phoenix, Arizona

Attorney Volunteers Needed

Volunteer attorneys are needed to serve as judges and bailiffs for the March 24 state finals. The Tournament requires 180 volunteer judges and bailiff/timekeepers. Volunteer Online

This year’s case is a criminal case surrounding the death of a famous musician. Was it murder, suicide, or something else . . .

Martin Louis Siriusz was found slumped over his piano listening to a playback of his latest (and as it turned out, his last) recording, entitled “Hanging at Death’s Door.” [A copy of the recording is available as evidence] The people of the State of New Michigan have charged Thomas “Duke” Osiski, Siriusz’s former bandmate, with murder. The people allege that Osiski was furious over Siriusz’s eleventh-hour decision to cancel a reunion tour that would have provided Osiski with much-needed financial relief.

Osiski denies shooting his long-time friend, contending that he went to the recording studio in an attempt to persuade Siriusz to reconsider his decision, but when he entered the room, he found Siriusz slumped forward on the piano with the “Death’s Door” soundtrack still playing. Seeing a bottle of alcohol and an open bottle of pills on the piano, Osiski assumed that Siriusz had accidentally OD’d. Feeling no pulse, Osiski ran out of the studio and out to the back patio, where he saw Siriusz’s 23-year-old son standing naked in the shallow end of the pool cleaning off with a bar of soap.