MOCK TRIAL COMPETITION SEASON HAS BEGUN!

LOCATION: The LA County courthouse a.k.a. the Stanley Mosk Courthouse

Round 1: Last week, our DBHS Mock Trial team, the Prosecution, took on a rookie team from West Covina. They were very friendly, and we enjoyed the round. They were inexperienced so no shock when we found out that we won Round 1.

Round 2: Tuesday night, November 12, because we won round 1, our Defense competed against another school that won round 1. We have faced that school before, L.A.C.E.S, in previous years and we scrimmaged them a few weeks ago. When we found out Wednesday at 3:00 pm that we beat them, we were very excited.

Winning Rounds 1 and 2 means we advance to what is called the Playoff Round. There are 23 teams left in the competition, all undefeated. The winners THURSDAY will compete in the Top 16 Round next Tuesday, November 19. Thursday, November 14, we will be the Prosecution.

Since I will get to tell you about Prosecution after tomorrow’s round, I will tell you about TUESDAY night’s Defense. The case takes place in a small Northern, CA, town called Emerald Bend. Just before a contentious City Council election, one of the candidates in kidnapped. The Defendant is the spouse of the other candidate.

Tuesday night began with the Defense pre-trial attorney, sophomore Annie Kung, arguing that the defendant’s 5th Amendment rights were violated when Dep Kim used manipulative ploys to coerce the defendant into making an incriminating statement after invoking right to council. Annie’s 4-minute argument was very convincing, and she won the argument: the evidence she was arguing to suppress was suppressed.

Then, our 3 trial attorneys did an excellent of deflecting objections, making objections, and basically outmaneuvering our opponent: Sophia Tian, Mia Artale, Sean Yu. Sean Yu is our only returning trial attorney. Sean’s experience is evident in his knowledge of objections and confidence while presenting. But Sophia had a couple very tough witnesses to cross examine and she handled a stressful night exceptionally well. This is Mia’s fourth year on the team so of course she has skills but Tuesday night she killed it. The other team noticed when they awarded her MVP status.

Our bailiff, Jayden Choi, found a voice, new to us. His voice was big, full, commanding, all night.
The four witnesses were AMAzING!!!

Expert Kody Palmer played by Arvind Anwar was so intelligent, unphased, convincing. Hard to believe Arvind is only a freshman. Cassandra Oh played the defendant’s spouse. She is SO believable and fun to watch. The same is true about the defendant played by Dorian Chen. And our comic relief, junior Michelle Li, playing a local true crime podcaster stole the show!!
The judge, clearly paying attention to Sean Yu’s closing, found the defendant guilty.
We are excited to see Prosecution perform again Thursday, November 14. More on that to come!

Thanks for reading,
Coach Latitia Thomas

TEAM MEMBERS