The 33rd annual San Bernardino County Mock Trial competition begins on Nov. 4, and approximately 450 students who represent 30 teams from 27 high schools are scheduled to take part in the event.
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. Shem, an art theft
trial that features a pretrial argument on the Fourth 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. 4, 12 and 18 and Dec. 2.
The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools and the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office are co-sponsors of the competition.
After the prelims, the top four teams will advance to the semifinals on Dec. 9 and 10 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. 13, 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 20-23 in Riverside.
This year’s competing high schools and their respective districts are: Apple Valley and Academy of Academic Excellence (Charter), Apple Valley Unified; Barstow, Barstow Unified; Los Osos and Rancho Cucamonga, Chaffey Joint Union; Colton and Grand Terrace, Colton Joint Unified; Encore (two teams) and Hesperia, Hesperia Unified; Citrus Valley, Redlands (Blue and White teams) and Redlands East Valley, Redlands Unified; Carter and Rialto, Rialto Unified; Cajon, San Bernardino and San Gorgonio, San Bernardino City Unified; Serrano, Snowline Joint Unified; Upland, Upland Unified; Adelanto, University Preparatory and Victor Valley, Victor Valley Union High; and Yucaipa, Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified. Also participating are private schools Aquinas, Arrowhead Christian, Ontario Christian and Upland Christian Academy.
Last year, Redlands defeated Redlands East Valley in the finals.
For more information about the Mock Trial program, contact David Maya of the County Schools’ office via email at david_maya@sbcss.k12.ca.us.