March 17-20, 2022, our LA County Championship Mock Trial Team competed in the State Championship. While they did not win the state title, our DBHS Mock Trial Team members are every bit the Champions. Thank you to their proud coaches, Latitia Thomas, Margaret Ku, Deputy DA Angela Brunson and Ken Carlson.

Accolades for the quick read:

Alexandra Chala was named Best Prosecuting Attorney

Marcus Hsieh came in second place in the Courtroom Reporter Contest (who was invited to compete at State because he placed first in the County competition and now will get to compete in a national competition because he came in second in California)

In the photo posted here you can see the art submission of our Court Room artist, Susan Wang (who was invited to compete at State because she placed second in the County competition)

MORE DETAILS:

1. Thursday night: Orientation began at 3:00 pm. First round competition began at 5:00 pm. Trials last about 2.5 hours. Our Prosecution faced a less experienced team (From a county that has very few teams) and maintained excellence. Alexandra Chala was named MVP by the opponent.
2. Friday night. Check in at 4:00, trial began at 5:00 pm. Our Defense faced a worthy adversary. Our bailiff, Johnny Kwong, awarded MVP by opponent.
3. Saturday morning. Check in at 9:00, trial began at 10:00 am. Our Prosecution had very worthy opponent. Pre-trial attorney Mingyu Liu gave his absolute best performance ever. Eileen Zu's closing was flawless, FLAWLESS! She gave a rebuttal that destroyed the other team's closing, and the defendant was found not guilty! Eileen Zu was named MVP by the opponent.
4. Saturday afternoon. Check in at 3:00, trial began at 4:00...LONGEST TRIAL EVER. Defense was up. Judge questioned our pretrial attorney, Reyna Wan, for over 20 minutes. That's in addition to the 4-minute argument and the 2-minute rebuttal she gives.  She was unflappable: her answers were brilliant, her energy and tempo never wavered. Then the technical difficulties began. The other team had sound and Internet problems for the rest of the night. It was not fun; our students did their best, but it was a struggle of never-ending repetition of questions and answers. Our witnesses really shined. Chloe Schaefer was a crowd pleaser, Mia Artale was quotable, Isaac Miao had to fill in as the defendant since Julian Medina was busy placing first with the DBHS Colorguard Team. Isaac was impressive but doubly so since he only had one day to learn the part and finally Tamim Hatim, the defendant's friend, was awarded MVP by the opposing team.
5. Sunday. We did not make it to the final round, but they watched it together in Mrs. Thomas’s classroom. Then the Awards Ceremony followed where we learned of Marcus Hsieh's Second Place Victory and Alexandra Chala's award for Best Prosecution Attorney. Students trickled out around 3:00pm. 
6. Please Congratulate the team members if you know any of the 20 and of course Marcus Hsieh and Susan Wang, the reporter and artist respectively. They were together for 4 days. The team members pushed, encouraged, supported each other every minute of it. (all the more impressive when the seniors on the team also has college acceptance/rejection notifications throughout the 4 days)
7. Deputy DA Angela Brunson was a huge part of their success but the bulk of the credit goes to a sense of commitment that the students had for one another that pushed them to perform at their best...a best that is pretty darn impressive.