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Mock Trial Competition winners from Murrieta Valley High School celebrate their tournament victory. | Photo courtesy of the Riverside County Office of Education
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Murrieta Valley High School from the Murrieta Valley Unified School District emerged victorious after seven rounds of competition concluded at the 41st annual Riverside County Mock Trial Competition on Thursday, the Riverside County Office of Education announced.
At the final round held at Riverside’s Historic Courthouse, Martin Luther King High School played the role of the prosecution and Murrieta Valley High School was at the defense table.
Murrieta Valley High from the Murietta Valley Unified School District will now represent the county at the California Mock Trial competition March 17-19 in Los Angeles. The National Mock Trial Competition will take place May 18-20 in Little Rock, Arkansas.
In the semifinal round on Tuesday, the tournament’s defending champ Notre Dame High School was defeated by MLK High. Murrieta Valley students eliminated Hemet High School to win a spot in the championship round.
This case for this year’s competition, People vs. Franks, centered around the trial of Jordan Franks, a young actor who finished a run of performances of the Shakespeare-adaptation Macbeth at Sea on a cruise ship. Franks was charged with robbery and battery of actor Billie Scher. The alleged crime was the focus of the fictional court case that nearly 400 high school students in Riverside County had been arguing during multiple tournament rounds in Indio, Murrieta and Riverside courtrooms since Jan. 26.
Mock trials involve students arguing cases in front of real judges, and receiving scores from real attorneys, according to the Office of Education. The annual Mock Trial Competition is open to all students in grades 9-12 who are enrolled in public and private high schools in Riverside County.
Teams consist of 8-25 students who fill the courtroom roles of defense and prosecution attorneys, witnesses, clerks and others.
“For the first time in the history of Riverside County Mock Trial, the role of courtroom artists was integrated into the competition,” the Office of Education stated. “On February 11, more than a dozen students were honored for top performances with blue ribbons and prestigious internships in local legal organizations after the fourth round of competition.”
In 2022, first-time winner Notre Dame High School defeated Poly High School from Riverside Unified School District. A complete listing of the schedules and locations of all the competition’s rounds is available at www.rcoe.us/student-events/mock-trial.
The Riverside County Mock Trial is sponsored by the Riverside County Office of Education, the Riverside County Bar Association and the Riverside County Superior Courts, in cooperation with the Constitutional Rights Foundation, according to the RCOE. Over 13,500 Riverside County students have participated in the Mock Trial Competition since 1983.
