RIVERSIDE (CNS) – High school teams from Corona, Hemet, Murrieta,
Riverside and Temecula will match wits and effort their best legal maneuvering
Thursday for a chance to win the title in the Riverside County Mock Trial
Competition.
The 41st annual event began during the last week of January at the
Larson Justice Center in Indio, the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta and
the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Since then, the field of competitors has narrowed to eight teams —
Great Oak High School in Temecula, Hemet High School, MLK High School in
Riverside, Murrieta Valley High School, Notre Dame High School in Riverside,
Poly High School in Riverside, Ramona High School in Riverside and Santiago
High School in Corona.
The “Elite Eight Round” will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at the
Riverside Hall of Justice. The semifinals will follow with four teams on
Tuesday, and the final round is scheduled for Feb. 23 at the Riverside Historic
Courthouse.
Notre Dame High won the competition for the first time last year,
topping the legacy champions, Poly High, whose teams have claimed the greatest
number of first-place titles since the competitions began locally in the early
1980s.
Nearly 400 students from around 20 high schools started out in the
county’s mock trials, which were in-person this year, after being held
virtually in 2021 and 2022 to comply with school districts’ COVID-based health
policies, according to the county Office of Education. The 2020 competition was
held prior to the school closures.
The Office of Education, in partnership with the Constitutional Rights
Foundation, Riverside County Bar Association and the Superior Court,
sponsor the competition annually. The county began holding student-level mock
trials in 1983. Nearly 15,000 youths have participated since then, according to
organizers.
This year’s contest has challenged participants to successfully argue
the fictitious case of People v. Franks, involving a cruise ship actor accused
of beating and robbing a fellow performer, but with a host of evidentiary
variables.
Teams consisting of eight to 25 students play the parts of deputy
district attorneys, defense attorneys, bailiffs, witnesses, clerks and
investigators. Contestants are given an allotted time, generally four to six
minutes, at each stage of a proceeding, including opening statements and
closing arguments and cross-examinations.
Practicing attorneys and judges assess students’ performance and award
points in accordance with criteria established for the competition.
Students from public and private high schools are permitted to take part.
Copyright 2023, City News Service, Inc.
