SBCSS News and Press Releases

First Round Of County Mock Trial Competition Begins On Nov. 1

2011-10-26

SAN BERNARDINO - About 325 students representing 27 high schools will compete in the 30th annual San Bernardino County Mock Trial program beginning on Nov. 1.

The Mock Trial competition simulates a criminal case where students portray the principal courtroom characters on both sides of a case before a real judge. This year's case is People v. Buschell, a murder trial that features a pretrial argument on the Second Amendment.

The preliminary trials of the competition will be held at the Foothill Law and Justice Center in Rancho Cucamonga, the county courthouse in Victorville and the civil courthouse in San Bernardino. All four rounds of the preliminaries will be held at 5 p.m. on Nov. 1, 8, 15 and 29.

The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools and the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office are co-sponsors of the competition. The public is invited to attend all rounds of the competition, but there is limited seating.

After the preliminaries, the top four teams will advance to the semifinals on Dec. 6 and 7 at 5 p.m. The semifinals will be held at the San Bernardino Civil Court House at 303 W. Third St. The finals are scheduled for 9 a.m. on Dec. 10, at the Foothill Law and Justice Center, 8303 N. Haven Ave. in Rancho Cucamonga.

The winner of the county competition will advance to the state finals on March 23-25 in Sacramento.

This year's competing high schools and their respective districts are: Apple Valley and Academy of Academic Excellence, Apple Valley Unified; Los Osos and Rancho Cucamonga, Chaffey Joint Union; Colton, Colton Joint Unified; Jurupa Hills, Fontana Unified; Encore, Hesperia and Sultana, Hesperia Unified; Redlands and Redlands East Valley, Redlands Unified; Carter and Rialto, Rialto Unified; Arroyo Valley, Cajon, Pacific, San Bernardino and San Gorgonio, San Bernardino City Unified; Serrano, Snowline Joint Unified; Upland, Upland Unified; Silverado, University Preparatory and Victor Valley, Victor Valley Union High. Also participating are private schools Aquinas, Arrowhead Christian, Ontario Christian and Upland Christian.

Last year, Redlands East Valley defeated Cajon in the finals.

For more information about the Mock Trial program, contact Dottie Bryant of the County Schools' office at (909) 386-2630.