Eleven Tulare County high school teams will complete the competition rounds of Mock Trial this week. They include El Diamante High School (Visalia), Exeter High School, Golden West High School (Visalia), Granite Hills High School – Team A (Porterville), Granite Hills High School – Team B (Porterville), Lindsay High School, Redwood High School – Team A (Visalia), Redwood High School – Team B (Visalia), Tulare Union High School, University Preparatory High School (Visalia) and Woodlake High School. The semi-final rounds will be conducted next Thursday, February 6.
Mock Trial teams are comprised of 10 to 20 students who take on the roles of lawyers, witnesses, court clerks, and bailiffs. All teams must make their presentations based on identical hypothetical case materials. Each team, coached by local attorneys and school personnel, presents the case for both the prosecution and defense twice during the course of the competition.
All teams present their cases before actual judges and attorneys, with three attorneys scoring the trial.
Members of the public, parents, students, and teachers are always welcome to attend any of the trials.
For 2024, Mock Trial student participants throughout California are presenting the fictitious case People v. Clark – the trial of Tobie Clark who works as in-house counsel for Sunshine Medical Components, Inc. (“SMC”), a billion-dollar medical technology company. Clark is charged with the homicide of SMC’s chief executive officer Kieran Sunshine. The prosecution argues that Clark should be convicted of first-degree murder. The prosecution alleges that Tobie Clark murdered Kieran because Kieran was backing out of Clark’s plot to commit fraud against SMC’s board of directors regarding SMC’s latest product, a prosthetic device called the ForeverFlex5000.
The Mock Trial Program is sponsored by the Constitutional Rights Foundation, and co-sponsored by the California Department of Education, the State Bar of California, the Young Lawyers’ Association, and the Daily Journal Corporation. The Tulare County Office of Education coordinates the program locally, with assistance from local attorneys and judges.
The champions from the final round of the Tulare County Mock Trial Competition will be eligible to compete in the annual state finals March 22-24 in Los Angeles.
For more information, contact Paula Terrill at the Tulare County Office of Education at (559) 651-0565 or [email protected].