A team of Riverside Polytechnic High School students has won the 2024 Riverside County Mock Trial Competition and will advance to the state competition in March, the Riverside County Office of Education announced Friday.
The mock trial competition took place at the Riverside Historic Courthouse, where students argued cases in front of real judges while being scored by practicing attorneys.
For the finals, Polytechnic High School represented the prosecution, while Notre Dame High School argued for the defense in a fictional case.
Polytechnic High School will represent the region at the California Mock Trial Competition in Los Angeles in March. The state winner will advance to the National Mock Trial, which will be held in Wilmington, Delaware in May.
The competition was open to all students in grades 9 to 12 enrolled in public and private high schools in Riverside County. Teams consisted of 8 to 25 students filling the courtroom roles of defense and prosecution attorneys, witnesses, clerks and others.
The monthlong competition featuring 22 high school teams was sponsored by Riverside County Superior Courts, the Riverside County Bar Association and the Riverside County Office of Education.