On Wednesday, April 18, Verona High School students got a look at what really happens in a courtroom. The VHS Mock Trial team and Christopher Tamburro’s U.S. History I class came to Verona municipal court to be defended and grilled by Verona’s real town prosecutor, Brian Aloia, and public defender, William Fried, with Judge John Paparazzo presiding.
The Mock Trial team is an after-school elective that runs from October to early February. We have approximately 20 students each year who participate. For the team, which is lead by Tamburro, four students function as attorneys and six as witnesses, with the rest participating as jurors and alternates. The students compete in the New Jersey Bar Foundation Mock Trial tournament, which for Essex County, is held at Veterans’ Courthouse in Newark.
In the video below, Fried cross examines the defendant “Dee Pressed” (VHS senior Alison Sprong). Sprong’s dad, David Sprong, is the team’s volunteer attorney-coach.
