The night before his first courtroom argument, Travis Honaker stayed awake in a Charleston hotel room, rehearsing what he would say and wondering what the justices might ask.
He had studied the record, researched the law and practiced his argument. Still, there was no way to anticipate every question awaiting him the next morning.
For the third-year Appalachian School of Law student, his first opportunity to argue an actual case would come before West Virginia’s highest court.
Honaker, a Honaker native who now lives in Buchanan County, presented oral argument Sept. 22 before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in a first-degree murder appeal. He appeared under the supervision of Dean Will Thompson through ASL’s partnership with West Virginia Public Defender Services.
Months before his expected graduation in May 2027, Honaker put his classroom preparation to work on a case involving a man sentenced to life in prison without parole.
“I knew it would be a lot of responsibility. I knew it would be a lot of work,” Honaker said. “But, you know, it’s a great opportunity, and I was very thankful that he asked me to do it.”
The opportunity began in Thompson’s appellate advocacy class, where students develop written arguments and practice presenting them orally. After seeing Honaker’s work in class, Thompson contacted him during the summer about arguing before the West Virginia court.
Honaker knew accepting would mean balancing appeal preparation with his regular coursework and exams. He also recognized the chance to gain experience that would carry well beyond a classroom assignment.
During the fall semester, he reviewed the trial transcript and case record, researched the issues and developed his argument. The written appellate brief was already complete before he joined the case, and he built his preparation on its arguments.
He traveled to Charleston to meet the client and attorneys with West Virginia Public Defender Services. A few weeks later, he returned with Thompson and ASL Dean D.J. Western for the hearing.
Sleep proved difficult the night before.
“One of the most nerve-wracking things is, like, what kind of questions they’re going to ask,” Honaker said.
Alone in his hotel room, he went over his argument repeatedly, trying to prepare himself to respond under pressure.
Arriving early the next morning gave him time to walk through the courthouse and get more comfortable with his surroundings. He also looked for something that might escape the attention of a courtroom visitor: the clock.
Honaker had 10 minutes to present his argument. He planned to use eight minutes initially and reserve two for rebuttal after the opposing side spoke.
That meant keeping track of time while explaining his position and responding to questions from the justices.
“But when you’re in the courtroom, and you have these judges, you know, these justices up there, it is intimidating,” he said.
Even with his preparation, the nerves followed him to the lectern. His legs shook as he stood before the justices, and he wondered whether the people seated behind him could notice.
“I still, like, I couldn’t control my legs shaking,” Honaker said. “And I’m standing up, and there are some people behind me, so I’m like, can they notice this?”
Despite those nerves, Honaker drew on what he had learned at ASL and did the job he had traveled to Charleston to do: present his client’s argument before West Virginia’s highest court.
Behind that nervousness was a serious responsibility.
According to Honaker, the appeal involved a fatal shooting at a West Virginia bar. His client had been convicted of first-degree murder, but the defense at trial maintained that another person present at the bar had committed the shooting.
Honaker said his argument focused on comments by the trial court suggesting that the alternative suspect would have immunity under a federal plea agreement if he confessed to the killing. He argued that those comments undermined his client’s central defense and prevented a fair trial.
“So that was the argument,” he said.
After his initial presentation, Honaker listened to the opposing argument, took notes and then returned for rebuttal. That portion required him to respond to what he had just heard.
“Well, you can’t really fully prepare for the rebuttal because you don’t know exactly what they’re going to say,” he said.
Thompson sat with him at the counsel table. On the trip back to Grundy, Thompson and Western offered feedback and, Honaker said, told him he had done a great job.
For Honaker, their encouragement also came with an opportunity to learn.
“If there’s something that I messed up on, if there’s something that I didn’t do so good on, I want to know so that I can correct it and fix it,” he said.
His route to that courtroom began with a different career in mind.
Growing up in Honaker, he wanted to become a police officer. He studied criminal justice in high school, graduated from Honaker High School in 2020, and continued his studies at Bluefield University, where he graduated in 2024.
“I always wanted to help people growing up,” he said. “That was my main goal. I wanted to make a difference in the community that I was going to be in and help people.”
During college, COVID-19 restrictions prevented an internship involving police ride-alongs. Instead, a professor placed him with an attorney in Pulaski. Another placement with an attorney during his final semester helped him decide to pursue law school.
When it came time to choose a school, he wanted to remain close to home.
“ASL was really the only school I had in mind,” Honaker said.
He initially commuted from Honaker to Grundy, but concerns about winter weather, mountain roads and making it to class led him to move to Buchanan County.
The transition from undergraduate studies to law school took adjustment, particularly during his first semester. He said the professors’ willingness to work individually with students helped him find his footing.
“You can go to your professor and ask for help, and they’re willing to help you,” he said.
He credits that access, along with classroom oral arguments, with helping prepare him for the West Virginia appearance.
“And so I go to their office, and I meet with them. We talk about it, and it’s so helpful to have that,” Honaker said. “And that’s unique, I feel like, about ASL.”
His interests have broadened during law school. Criminal law remains a career goal, but a favorite class in torts introduced him to personal injury and other civil matters he may also want to pursue.
He has not decided where he will practice after graduation, though he originally hoped to stay in the area. Discussions at ASL about “legal deserts” — communities with few attorneys — gave him another way to think about the work ahead.
From his early plans to become a police officer to his appearance before West Virginia’s highest court, his goal has remained the same, helping people.
“And so I would like to go to one of those areas so that I can help people in that community,” Honaker said.
