January 31 & February 7, 2015
UKIAH, CA - Six local high school teams will compete in semi-final competition at the annual County Mock Trials at the Mendocino County Courthouse in downtown Ukiah on Saturday, January 31, 2015, beginning at 9:30 with second round beginning at 1:00. Semi-final competition will continue the following Saturday morning February 7th at 9:30 with the top two teams advancing to the final round of competition to be held that afternoon in Courtroom E beginning at 1:30. This student enrichment activity is funded and coordinated by the Mendocino County Office of Education. The finalist teams will compete for the right to become the holders of the County Mock Trial perpetual trophy for the coming year and for the honor of representing our county at the state competition to be held in Riverside, March 20-22, 2015. The final awards ceremony on February 7th is scheduled to begin at approximately 3:30-4:00 p.m. High school coaches recruit students to participate in this academic enrichment activity each year. Approximately 120 students represent the six high school teams.
Participating schools and coaches are: Charter Academy of the Redwoods (coach- Ed Andersen), Developing Virtue Girls School (coach-Kim Duong), Fort Bragg High (coach-Tara Larson), Laytonville High (coach-Bruce Potter), Mendocino High (coach-Tyler Grinberg), and Ukiah High (coach-Matthew LaFever).
The County Mock Trial competition gives high school students the opportunity to experience the American judicial system first-hand. Student teams will argue both sides of a fictitious case developed by the Constitutional Rights Foundation, the statewide coordinators of the event. This year student team members will portray all key roles in the case People v. Shem, the trial of Evan Shem who is studying for a masters of fine arts degree at Hamiltonia University. Shem faces one felony count, theft by larceny, for the theft of Treason, a painting by Fletcher Yazoo. The pretrial issue in People v. Shem centers on the Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure.
Members from all aspects of the local legal community, including judges, district attorneys, public defenders, alternate defenders, county counsel and private attorneys volunteer their time to coach teams or score/officiate during the competitions. Ten are coaching teams this year including Joshua Rosenfeld (Charter Academies of the Redwoods), Matthew Finnegan and Jennifer O'Brien (Developing Virtue), Ryan Perkins ( Fort Bragg), Elizabeth Norman (Laytonville), Jone Lemos (Mendocino), and Sergio Fuentes, Colin Morrow, Alexander Rich, and Zach Stephens (Ukiah). For more information about the County Mock Trial program, please contact Carolyn Brown <cbrown@mcoe.us> at the Mendocino County Office of Education, (707) 272-8682.
Victoria Gulick, Confidential Administrative Assistant, Mendocino County Office of Education
2240 Old River Road, Ukiah CA 95482. (707) 467-5001
vgulick@mcoe.us
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