Student Lawyers Have Their Day in Court at Mock Trial 2008

Photo: Santa Cruz High Team and coaches posing with
Final Round Judge - Commissioner Steven Siegel and
County Superintendent, Michael Watkins.

Teams of students from seven county high schools – Aptos, Harbor, St. Francis Academy, Scotts Valley, Soquel High, Santa Cruz High, and Watsonville - have been practicing for the County Mock Trial Competition since receiving their case packets in fall 2007. The arduous process of preparing for the academic decathlon known as Mock Trial commands countless hours of work by students, teachers and attorney coaches in preparation for the competition. The competition was held at the Santa Cruz County Court House over three days in February with Harbor, St Frances, Santa Cruz and Soquel making it to the Semi-finals on February 18th. The Soquel High and Santa Cruz Teams faced off in the finals on the same day, with Santa Cruz High achieving victory over Soquel High by only 6 points. Santa Cruz High will be heading to State finals in Riverside County on March 28 - 30, 2008.

In addition to the awarding of the 1st and 2nd place trophies to the above teams, the following students received outstanding achievement awards for their performance as attorneys, witnesses, clerks and bailiffs: Outstanding Prosecution Attorney: Emily Stover- Santa Cruz High; Outstanding Defense Attorney: Hanna Bliden – Soquel High; Outstanding Pretrial Prosecution Attorney: Devlin Mallory – Santa Cruz High; Outstanding pretrial Defense Attorney: Shamik Mascharak – Santa Cruz High; Outstanding Opening Statement Defense: Hanna Bliden – Soquel High; Outstanding Opening Statement Prosecution: Huiling Pan – Harbor High; Outstanding Closing Argument Prosecution Marina Rosenthal – Soquel High; Outstanding Closing Arguments Defense: Aleesha Spurr – Harbor High; Outstanding Clerk: Sofia Beck – Harbor High; Outstanding Bailiff: Arturo Ayala – Watsonville High; Outstanding Defense Witnesses: Sydney Bossard – Soquel High; Tizoc Ramirez – Watsonville High; Honeygirl Lacasandile – Watsonville High; Rachel Siddens – Soquel High; Lindsey Hutchison; Outstanding Prosecution Witnesses: Victoria Juntado – Harbor High; Will Bass – Santa Cruz High; Julia Burgdorf – Harbor High; Colin VanZandt – Santa Cruz High.

This year, the Honorable Jeff Almquist, the Honorable Robert Atack, the Honorable Paul Burdick, the Honorable Denine Guy, the Honorable Paul Marigonda, the Honorable Heather Morse, Referee Kim Baskett, Commissioner Irwin Joseph and Commissioner Steven Siegel served as judges during the three days of competition.

Over 30 local attorneys volunteer as competition scorers and 10 local attorneys volunteer to assist students with their trial preparation.

The County Office of Education sponsors this event with the Constitutional Rights Foundation, California State Bar Association, Santa Cruz Judicial System, Santa Cruz County Bar Association, and the Santa Cruz Trial Lawyers Association.

For more information,contact Jo Ann Allen, Director Student Support Services at 479-5246, or Martine Watkins, Youth Court/Mock Trial Project Coordinator at 479-5325.

Here is information on the 2006 Mock Trial competition.

Here is information on the 2005 Mock Trial competition.