Local high school teams do well in Mock Trial Competition

Five Paloma Valley students won Blue Ribbon Awards in the Mock Trial Competition.

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Local high school teams performed well in the recent Mock Trial competition, sponsored by Riverside County Superior Courts, the Riverside County Bar Association, and the Riverside County Office of Education.

Selected students from Paloma Valley High, Heritage High and Santa Rosa Academy were named Blue Ribbon Award recipients for their performance in the preliminary rounds. They didn’t qualify for the Elite Eight round of team competition, but the local students represented their schools well.

According to a Riverside County news release, “Mock Trial involves students arguing cases in front of real judges, while being scored by practicing attorneys. The competition is open to all students in grades 9 through 12 enrolled in public and private high schools in Riverside County. Teams consist of 8-25 students filling the courtroom roles of defense and prosecution attorneys, witnesses, clerks, and more.”

Paloma Valley completed its competition by winning the pretrial competition and verdict on Saturday. Of the eight witness roles in the trial, Paloma students won four silver medals: Oscar Reyes, Alejandra Montemayor, Claire Hillebrand, and Dahlia Perez. In addition, Katherine Marker also won a silver medal for her performance as the court clerk.

One of the top awards went to Santa Rosa Academy student Kayla Copeland, who was named Outstanding Defense Attorney. She won a summer internship with the Public Defender’s Office, as well as the Riverside County Bar Foundation’s Honorable Douglas E. Weathers Scholarship.

Heritage student Avarie LaMothe took third place for her portrayal of witness Dr. Cody Palmer.

The winner of the team competition will represent the region at the California Mock Trial Competition March 14-16 in Los Angeles. The state winner will advance to the National Mock Trial event May 7-10 in Phoenix.

Marisa Billions, faculty advisor for the Paloma Valley team, explained how the competition works.

“The pretrial motion is heard first. The pretrial attorney gives their statement and then the judge. The judge questions the pretrial attorneys on the case law while they are giving their statements. Once pretrial has concluded and is ruled on, the trial begins with opening statements and then witnesses are called, followed by closing arguments. The judge then rules on the case. The ruling does not necessarily have any bearing on the scores.

“The scores are given by the 3-5 attorneys that are present to watch the trial. Students are scored 1-10 on a number of skills, including how well they question, how well they know objections and exceptions to objections, and how well witnesses know their statements and respond to questions.”

Billions said teams begin preparing for the competition in August.

“What went well for our team was our ability to grow and work with feedback, and dedicate the countless hours to master their roles,” Billions said. "Be flexible and learn from mistakes. I am extremely proud of this team. Mock Trial is the highlight of my year every year.”

Bob Karwin, Menifee Mayor Pro Tem and a local attorney, served as the attorney coach for Paloma Valley.

“I am so proud of those kids,” Karwin said. “There are a few members of this team that I could see leading a real trial right now.”