The
Madera County Office of Education Mock Trial Competition will be
held on Dec. 13, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon at the Madera Conty Goverment
Center.
Competing this year are teams from Madera High and Yosemite High
School. The Mock Trial Competition is a simulation of an actual
criminal court case in which the students are the trial participants.
This year’s case, provided by the Constitutional Rights Foundation,
is a credit card fraud trial.
The Mock Trial program is designed to help students comprehend the
workings of legal institutions. Each team is coached by a volunteer
attorney on courtroom procedures and trial preparations.
The Yosemite High School coach is James Lee. Team members are: Caitlin
Blum, Brittany Bohner, Bree Boyd, Christine Casner, Melanie Deto,
Jessie Fisher, Angela Gerow, Landon Grossni, Amit Gurnani, Jason
Koczanowiz, Kristin Lukan, Gabriella Ripley-Phipps, Amanda Schotke,
Veronica Stewart, Paige Turpen, Jessica Tyson, Alexandra Watt, and
Valerie Woolard. The team is coached by attorneys Martin Koczanowiz
and James Watkins.
The volunteer judge this year is the Honorable Edward Moffat from
the Madera Superior Court. Attorneys scoring the teams’ performances
are: Gary Blate, David Jenkins, Bruce Kennedy, Bryan Martin, Steven
Mortimer, Mitch Rigby, and Eric Wyatt.
The winning team from the Madera County competition will be invited
to compete in the state finals in Orange County, April 2 - 4, 2004.
The Mock Trial Competi-tion is being coordinated by the Madera County
Office of Education. For further information contact Tracey McCully
or Jennifer Pascale at 683-6051, extension 273.
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