Competing against 26 high schools across the county, Riverside’s King High School found themselves facing off against Poly High for first place in the 30th annual Riverside County Mock Trial competition on Saturday, March 2.
Ultimately Riverside’s Poly defeated King High School in the final round on a traffic hit-and-run case held at the Riverside Historic Courthouse. Poly now advances to the California State Mock Trial Competition, to be held in Riverside on March 22 through 24.
According to the Press-Enterprise, this year’s case, People v. Vega, involved a non-fatal traffic accident, in which the defendant, portrayed by the Riverside Poly team is charged with a felony hit-and-run stemming from an accident.
Photo by Dave Baumann, PE
“In the prosecution, portrayed by King, the victim, a bicyclist, was hit by a motorist and injured. The defendant argued that she was not the driver of the vehicle and that instead, her friend, who has the habit of running stop lights, was driving.
The case worked with the reliability of witnesses and whether the defendant was properly given her Miranda rights.
At the end of the trial, Federal District Judge Virginia Philips ruled in favor of the defendant.
‘Great job,’ she said. ‘I’m just so impressed with everyone — the witnesses, my wonderful clerk, the bailiff. Well done; terrific job.’
Later at the awards ceremony, the high schools were presented with medals and plaques. Poly’s win brought the team to its feet amid cheers from the family members and supporters in the courtroom audience. The team also received a $1,000 check from the Riverside County Bar Association.”
The accomplishment of two Riverside high schools to achieve this level in an academic competition demonstrates both student and faculty commitment to providing innovative learning experiences to our students.
To read more on the competition, view the full Press-Enterprise article here.
