SBCSS News and Press Releases

Redlands East Valley Takes Second Place at State Mock Trial Championships

2005-03-21

RIVERSIDE – Redlands East Valley High School finished second to Marin County’s Tamalpais High School on Sunday at the 26th annual California Mock Trial Championships at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

“It was an amazing experience and I’m thrilled for our students,” said Ed Berman, coach of the Redlands East Valley team.

Team members for REV are: James Barton, Jill Cohoe, Roxanne Darrow, David Fagan, Ashley Lopez, Baxter Mante, Paul Marcinaik, Scott Marinis, Chris Mayer, Kevin Murphy, William Ritner, Corey Wlodarczyk and Tina Yona. Attorney coaches are Gary Fagan, Craig Kamansky and Greg Waitman. In addition to Berman, faculty coaches are Sandy Russell-Nichley and Fleury Laycook.

“It was a total team effort from the students, coaches and their families,” Berman said. “It’s quite a commitment from everyone.”

Redlands East Valley also won the state Achievement Award as a team, and Cohoe won the award for being the outstanding prosecuting attorney.

Redlands East Valley, the San Bernardino County champion, competed against 33 other county winners from the state. They had opening round victories against teams from Shasta, Santa Clara and Ventura counties. In the fourth round, Redlands East Valley defeated perennial Riverside County powerhouse Riverside Poly. Tamalpais High School will advance to the national championships in North Carolina in May.

This was Redlands East Valley’s second visit to the state championships. It also advanced to state in 2001. San Bernardino County has had only one state championship team, the 1997 Redlands High squad. Apple Valley High had two runnerup state teams in 1990 and 1986.

The Mock Trial competition each year introduces a new hypothetical criminal case based on an important issue facing America's youth. This year's case, People v. Kendall, involved issues of drag racing and a pretrial argument on the First Amendment.

The state championships were sponsored by the Constitutional Rights Foundation. The Mock Trial was created to help students acquire a working knowledge of our judicial system, develop analytical abilities and communication skills, and gain an understanding of their obligations and responsibilities as participating members of our society.