For the first time in the campus’ history, Notre Dame High School in Riverside prevailed in the countywide Mock Trial Competition, earning a spot in the statewide contest next month, officials announced Monday.
The 40th annual contest involved multiple rounds spread over the last month, culminating in the final meet on Saturday, during which Notre Dame topped the legacy champions, Poly High School, whose teams have claimed the greatest number of first-place titles since the competitions began locally in the early 1980s.
Notre Dame’s team will advance to the California Mock Trial Competition slated for March 17-20 in Los Angeles.
More than 500 students from 22 high schools started out in the county’s mock trials, squaring off virtually for the second consecutive year to comply with school districts’ public health safeguards, according to the county Office of Education. The state contest is expected to be in-person.
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 challenged participants to successfully argue the fictitious case of People v. Cobey, involving a horticulturist who allegedly perpetrated a murder, but with complications surrounding the evidence against him.
Teams consisting of eight to 25 students played the parts of deputy district attorneys, defense attorneys, bailiffs, witnesses, clerks and investigators. Contestants were given an allotted time, generally four to six minutes, at each stage of a proceeding, including opening and closing statements and cross-examinations.
Practicing attorneys and judges assessed students’ performance and awarded points in accordance with criteria established for the competition.
Students from public and private high schools were permitted to take part.