LAKEPORT, Calif. – Middletown High School edged out Upper Lake High to take the win in the second annual Lake County Mock Trial Competition, which took place on Wednesday at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
The Middletown and Upper Lake teams each won a session during the day, but in the final judging Middletown emerged the winner.
Middletown – which has achieved back-to-back wins in the competition's first two years – now will prepare to compete in the California State Finals Mock Trial, to be held in San Jose March 21 to 23.
The state's winning team will travel to Madison, Wis., for the National Mock Trials, to be held May 8 through 10.
With Wednesday being a court holiday, the teams – composed of a total of 38 students – were able to have the fourth floor courtrooms to themselves for preparation and for arguing their cases.
Stephanie Wayment of the Lake County Office of Education, who worked along with Suzanne Blavet of the Lake County Superior Court to coordinate the event, directed the Mock Trial activities on Wednesday.
This year's case is “People v. Concha,” regarding the trial of Rae Concha, a senior at Rosewood High School.
Concha was charged with two felony counts: second-degree murder for the death of fellow student Jason Johnson and possession for sale of a controlled substance, in this case, amphetamine in the form of prescription Adderall, of which Johnson died of an overdose in March 2013.
The prosecution alleged that Concha sold Adderall to fellow students at the high school, and that Concha sold the Adderall pills to Johnson with full knowledge that Johnson suffered from a congenital heart defect and that the drug would be dangerous to him.
The defense argued that Concha had a legal prescription for Adderall for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and that a backpack alleged to contain the bottles of Adderall and the baggies that was found in Concha's SUV did not belong to Concha, but rather to another fellow student and band member, Alex Weaver.
The role of Concha was portrayed both by a male and a female student in the different sessions, with other roles including prosecutors and defense attorneys, the bailiff, the medical examiner, Concha's fellow students, the high school principal and an undercover police officer.
While there was role playing for the students, they had the opportunity to argue their case before real judges.
Judge Andrew Blum presided in the morning session, with Judge Stephen Hedstrom hearing the arguments in the afternoon.
Both of the judges worked to put the students at ease.
“It takes a lot of courage to get up in public like this and present your case,” Hedstrom said.
The teams were coached by Jon Hopkins, the county's former district attorney, and attorney Bill Conwell, with attorneys David Markham and Mary Amodio, and Deputy District Attorney Dan Flesch, Deputy District Attorney Susan Krones and District Attorney Don Anderson handling scoring.
When the teams took their turns arguing the case, they began with motions to suppress evidence that was obtained by an undercover police officer, who saw the backpack in Concha's SUV after standing on the tire to look inside the vehicle.
The issue centered on the Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure, and the teams had to answer whether or not the officer's vehicle search was within the plain view exception to the warrant requirement.
Scorers rated the student participants on the pretrial motions, opening statements, direct and redirect examination, cross examination, the witnesses presented, closing arguments, and performance by the clerk, bailiff and the rest of the team.
Students receiving special recognition included Upper Lake’s Mercedes De Los Santos and Middletown’s Elliot Serena, who received honors for defense and prosecution presentations, respectively; Middletown’s Paloma Colacion, who was awarded for her performance as a defense witness; and Noah Schenck of Middletown for acting as clerk/bailiff.
At the end of the day, the students received praise from the coaches, scorers and the judges.
“You guys are not like me, you took high school seriously,” said Anderson, who Wayment thanked for his financial contributions, which will help defray Middletown’s travel costs to next month’s state competition.
Blum said he was impressed by both teams. “It was brutal this morning,” he said. “You guys were going at each other.”
Hedstrom lauded the students for working hard. Noting he was impressed with the young people who took part in the competition, he added, “The future is in good hands.”
Team rosters
Middletown High School
Katrina Carrillo, Paloma Colacion, Michael Davis, Donald Elder, Soledad Garcia, Connor Gill, Mason Justice, Alixe Olson, Gracie Pachie, Becca Pachie, Cassidy Parker, Gary Pickrell IV, Jacob Riccio, Nick Santos, Noah Schenck, Jovon Self, Elliot Serena, Audrey Showen, Connor Smith, Parker Spadaro, Rebecca Titus and Emma Zalusky.
Upper Lake High School
Emma August, Joleca Augustina, Brittany Benner, Ashley Clarke, Dyani Crandall, Mercedes De Los Santos, Rhianna Eby, Ashton Hicks, Haley Hunter, Shahid Hussein, Marley Knorr, Antonio Lopez, Matt Mitchell, Jessica Mooney, Valeria Robles, Isabel Rorabaugh and Leonardo Saldana.
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