Defense and Justice: Vanna Truong’s Experience in Teen Court

Imagine standing before a jury, heart pounding, as you prepare to defend a peer – this is an electric feeling for Vanna Truong, a senior at Lamar. 

Vanna participates in Teen Court, a monthly program hosted by the Houston Municipal Court Department. Teen court is designed to give students interested in law the opportunity to take on real cases and participate in a mock court to provide them with experience. These high school students are responsible for deciding what happens to these defendants. She works on real cases for teens, and juvenile cases such as theft and property destruction, and is assigned a role. Vanna has been defense, prosecution, and jury, in the court and learned what it means to participate in each role. 

Vanna enjoys the experience of learning from the people around her and getting to know others that share her interests. “What I like about Teen Court the most is actually the social aspect of it. All of these kids from around Houston gather in one place and are all interested in law.” Seeing people from Katy to Sugar Land makes her feel passion and dedication from her fellow peers in Teen Court. Meeting new people and gathering new experiences has helped her learn about different professions in law and has helped her contemplate more on a future in law. 

Her favorite role, defense, lets her lay down her foundation for her case, paint a picture of the story to tell, and sway the court. “Victimizing a defendant, for me, is easier than antagonizing them.” Most of the time, the facts of a case don’t truly tell the entire story, especially one of the teen defendants. “You learn there’s more to it than what the crime says on paper,” Vanna says. Creating the argument to vouch for the defendant is something Vanna enjoys, allowing her to get up on the stand and argue a side. 

Vanna feels the passion of the court when she gets up on the stand and gets ready to defend. “What really excites me about Teen Court is the feeling of being in action,” says Vanna. “You think it’ll be easy at first, but when you actually get up on that stand, it's super nerve-wracking. It's nerves and excitement.” It's the perfect blend of both, an experience that has given Vanna not just a taste of the legal world but a passion that will last a lifetime.