La Reina High Wins Mock Trial Contest

La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks has won the 12th Ventura County Mock Trial Competition and will move on to the state contest in Sacramento beginning March 31.

Camarillo High School was the runner-up in the county competition, and finalists were Santa Paula, Thousand Oaks, Rio Mesa and Channel Islands high schools.

The competition, held at the county Hall of Justice in Ventura, was the culmination of four months of intense preparation by 15 high school teams from throughout the county. The teams were coached by attorneys to portray the principals in a cast of courtroom characters from a fictional criminal case dealing with issues of youth violence, homicide and privacy.

The finalists competed for the county title in mock trials before three judges from the state Court of Appeal and Ventura County Superior Court. Scoring of the teams was done by several county attorneys.

Besides the team winners, individual awards were presented to:

Darren Noy, Thousand Oaks High, Best Pretrial Attorney; Jeanne Nilsen, Westlake High School, Best Prosecution Attorney; Anne Hermele, Royal High School, Best Prosecution Witness; Jennifer Retzler, Westlake High, Best Defense Attorney; and Ido Magal, Thousand Oaks High, Best Defense Witness.