News

Monday, March 1, 2010

Dos Pueblos wins Santa Barbara County Mock Trial competition

In the closest championship final in county history, the Dos Pueblos High School Mock Trial team edged out San Marcos High School to capture the Santa Barbara County Championship Saturday afternoon at the Santa Barbara Courthouse.

After their semifinal wins –  San Marcos defeated Santa Ynez and Dos Pueblos defeated Cate –  the Dos Pueblos and San Marcos teams went head-to-head. According to San Marcos coach Luke Ohrn, “The results were a 2-2 tie. It was not only a win-lose tie but an exact mathematical tie. The presiding judges were consulted and gave DP the nod.”

It was the second straight title for Dos Pueblos and the third year in a row that the two teams had met in the championship round. Dos Pueblos now moves on to the California state finals in San Jose on March 19.

"It was an epic final matchup of two outstanding teams," said Dos Pueblos captain Christina Li. "We've worked so hard for this and the best thing was that we were at our best in the final round." She added, "We're big rivals but we also have a lot of respect for San Marcos and their program. As great as it feels to win, we know that both teams were deserving."

This year's case focused on the first degree murder trial of Jordan Bratton, a comic in the fictional town of "Hollyville" accused of strangling notorious critic Preston Palmer after a review Palmer had written had severely damaged Bratton's comedic career. The trial also involved a pretrial argument focusing on whether the seizure of evidence violated the fourth amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

Sponsored by the Constitutional Rights Foundation, mock trial teams all receive the same case packet, witness statements, and facts in September, and spend hours each week preparing their arguments and exams, researching the law, and developing character for the witnesses. Local attorneys donate their time to mentor and coach the students.

The Dos Pueblos team members are:

• Pretrial Attorneys: Connie Wang, Noah Connally, Rashi Singh, Connie Phung
• Prosecution Attorneys: Philip Bildner, Nathanial Block, Megha Manjunath,
• Defense Attorneys: Jeff Campbell, Cheryl Wilson, Richard Cheng, Olivia Campbell
• Prosecution Witnesses: Sean Guthrie, Juhi Khemani, Morgan Lunt, Alix de Gramont, Paige Brenner, Jackie McGuan
• Defense Witnesses: Corinne Ruth, Christina Li, Emma Steinkellner, Collin Clark, Chloe Hunt
• Clerk: Patrick Holmes
• Bailiff: Michael Baik
• Courtroom Artists: Lian Fumerton-Liu,  Yibing Zhang
• Understudies: Chloe Warriner.Alison Mally, Paisha Fellows
• Attorney Coaches: Maureen Grattan, Scott Campbell, Joel Block
• Teacher Coach: Bill Wood