Middletown High retains Mock Trial championship in close race with Upper Lake High
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Two Lake County high schools met to compete for the Mock Trial championship on Tuesday, and organizers said the teams had the closest set of scores that they’ve seen since the local event began several years ago.
After a day of making careful arguments, testing evidence, cross-examining witnesses and summing up their cases, Middletown High School edged out Upper Lake High School to hold onto the championship.
Tuesday’s event was the seventh annual Mock Trial in Lake County, and every year it’s been a contest between Middletown and Upper Lake. In each of the years, Middletown has won, but on Tuesday Upper Lake came the closest so far to unseating its rival.
The Mock Trial competition coincided this year, as it has in past years, with a court holiday, meaning that the two teams had the run of a few courtrooms on the fourth floor of the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
Melissa Perry of the Lake County Superior Court, one of the contest’s devoted organizers, said the court has made the student competition a priority.
Perry worked this year with Erika Barrish of the Lake County Office of Education to put on the event, with help from numerous volunteers.
Each year, one or two judges have volunteered their time to preside over the competition, so the students have a chance to make arguments before real jurists, whose legal acumen can test their work and their understanding of the law.
This year, Judge J. David Markham presided over the competition.
“You guys should be really proud,” Markham told the students as the competition began, noting that it isn’t easy.
He said he would wish them luck, but as one of his professors said, “Luck is for the unprepared.”
This year, the two schools argued the fictional case of People v. Klein.
The case, created by the Constitutional Rights Foundation – the Mock Trial’s founding organization – is particularly topical, taking on the issues of Internet threats and harassment.
According to the case brief, People v. Klein is the trial of Reagan Klein, a young adult resident of the fictional town of East Flamingo, California.
Klein is charged with two felony counts: making a false report of an emergency – commonly referred to as “swatting” – and making a criminal threat.
The prosecution alleged in the case that Klein threatened a coworker, Sawyer Smith, via a social media post. Klein was alleged to have had animosity against Smith, who had become a rising social-media influencer but also because Smith was responsible for Klein being fired from the restaurant where they both worked.
Klein and two coworkers were responsible for a “catfishing” prank in which they created a fictitious romantic interest for Smith named Hayden Carlton. Smith, in turn, retaliated by getting Klein fired. Klein then posted a threatening message as Hayden Carlton that included the words “You deserve to die … Watch your back, I’m coming for you.”
Each team took turns as both prosecution and defense, and before each trial they argued a motion that claimed that the threat constituted a “true threat” and was not protected by the First Amendment. A “true threat” is one that is sufficient to cause a reasonable person to be in sustained fear, according to the case brief.
On the same day that threat was made, the prosecution alleged that Klein made a false
“text-a-tip” to the police requesting police respond to a “hostage situation” at Smith’s residence. A SWAT team responded to the call, and Smith was seriously injured.
Upper Lake began as defense, with Middletown as prosecution during the morning session, with the two teams switching roles in the afternoon.
In both trial sessions, Judge Markham found that Klein was guilty of the first count, making a false report of an emergency, but not guilty of the second count, making a criminal threat, for which he didn’t find sufficient evidence.
Following the trials, while the competition scoring was still being completed, Judge Markham praised the student competitors. “I was really impressed by all of you.”
Markham – who on Wednesday will mark the first anniversary of taking his place on the Lake County Superior Court bench – in the past was one of the attorney judges in the competition. He said he was glad he didn’t have that job this time. “They have a real difficult decision.”
He told the students, “Most of you were more prepared than a lot of people who appear in front of me,” and that it was apparent to him that they worked very hard.
The team of three scoring judges also praised the students. That team this year included Deputy District Attorney Daniel Flesch, now in his sixth year judging the competition; Mary Heare Amodio, an attorney and president of the Lake County Bar Association; and Megan Lankford, a former county prosecutor who now works in private practice.
Lankford also offered students a specific piece of advice, explaining that when a judge sustains – or denies – an objection, an attorney can still try to get that information, and it’s important to look for ways to do it.
“I hope that a couple of you, at least, pursue careers in the law because you did a really good job,” and are better than some attorneys who have a license to practice, Lankford said.
Perry and Barrish then handed out participation awards to each of the students before announcing the individual winners, with a near sweep by the Upper Lake team.
Individual awards were given in the following categories:
– Outstanding prosecution pretrial motion attorney: Jeff Fannon, Upper Lake High School.
– Outstanding prosecution attorney: Rebecca Harper, Upper Lake High School.
– Outstanding prosecution witness: Hugo Ramos, Upper Lake High School
– Outstanding defense attorney: Dimitri Imbrunetti, Middletown High School.
– Outstanding defense witness: Jeff Fannon, Upper Lake High School.
It’s notable that Fannon, Harper and Ramos – along with team members Jasmine Haro and Jisel Horne – are all members of the Upper Lake Academic Decathlon team, which earlier this month won the right to compete at the state level. Anna Sabalone, their Academic Decathlon coach, was part of Upper Lake’s Mock Trial coaching team, along with teacher-coach Alex Stabiner and attorney-coach Judy Conard.
Ultimately, however, it was the Middletown team – coached by teacher-coach Lee Hodge and attorney coaches Janina Hoskins and Jon Hopkins, a former Lake County district attorney – which won the prize and the chance to represent Lake County in the State Mock Trial competition next month.
“This is the closest I have seen it in the years that I have done this,” said Perry as she made the announcement.
Middletown was gracious in its win, congratulating its Upper Lake opponents, with one Middletown student noting that their team wouldn’t do as well as it did had it not been for their opponents.
The Lake County Bar Association donated the money for the Mock Trial trophy that Middletown will once again take back to the south county, and the Lake County Friends of Mendocino College also are making a contribution toward the winning team’s travel costs to the state event.
A launching platform for students
Janina Hoskins, one of Middletown’s attorney-coaches, said the competition offers a lot to young people.
“It is launching the careers of lots of young future lawyers,” she said following the awards ceremony.
Case in point: Former Mock Trial standout Gracie Patchie is now attending California State University, Chico, and going through the testing necessary to apply for law school, Hoskins said.
Hoskins said Patchie competed with her team at the state competition three years ago, and was chosen as the best defendant in the entire state.
“That’s the only person we’ve ever had win a statewide award,” Hoskins said.
More recently, Hoskins said Patchie was among 20 students selected from across the nation to study law at The Hague in the Netherlands. The Hague is the seat of the Dutch Parliament and headquarters for the United Nations’ International Court of Justice.
Hoskins said the opportunity for local students to travel to other parts of the state is valuable. Previous trips have been to Southern California, with some of the students taking those trips having never traveled outside of the Bay Area before.
“It’s transformative for some of these kids,” Hoskins said.
While the students prepare for the state competition, which takes place from March 22 to 24 in Sacramento, Hoskins said another priority is now fundraising.
Hoskins said the team needs $6,000; of that, nearly $2,000 is registration fees.
Other expenses are travel and lodging. She noted this trip will be less expensive because the competition is taking place only a few hours away.
She said the fundraising is particularly challenging because they only have a month to do it.
Yet, so far, every year they’ve managed to raise the money through the generosity of the community, she said.
For information about how to donate, contact Middletown High School at 707-987-4140. Hoskins said she also plans to post a new Go Fund Me page for the team this week.
TEAM ROSTERS
Middletown High School
Coaches: Lee Hodges, teacher; John Hopkins, attorney; Janina Hoskins, attorney
Students: Abigail Elder, Jaxson Ehrlich, Henry Fenk, Alexandra Imbrunetti, Dimitri Imbrunetti, Olivia Gallagher, Erica Kinsel, Mason Leggitt, Kevin Nance, Jessica Pollack, Ximena Ramirez, Jack Rarick, Maggie Rodgers, Natalie Rodriguez, Bella Ruiz, Lilly Samson, Mylie Turney and Jessica Zell.
Upper Lake High School
Coaches: Anna Sabalone, teacher; Alex Stabiner, teacher; Judy Conard, attorney
Students: Marcos Augustine, Jeff Fannon, Russell Gordan, Richard Guaydacan, Marylin Halvorsen, Bryce Hanke, Jasmine Haro, Rebecca Harper, Jisel Horne, Bolonik Ionsun, Diana Mendoza, Jasmine Myers, Hugo Ramos, Alana Sanchez, Emily Stith, Cristen Swaney, Megan Talbert and Jared Thornberry.
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