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March 21, 2025
Mock Trial is an academic competition that involves students working in teams with legal professionals to study and prepare for trial. Mock trial students have been working on the case since Sept.. To help prepare, students are given a case packet that involves eight witness statements and a number of Supreme Court and other federal and state court decisions.
This year's case was called People v. Gold and it involves a (supposedly) politically-motivated kidnapping. The students prepared all elements of a trial, starting from the pretrial argument, and debated whether or not a police conversation is necessary. If the defendant was made in violation of the 5th Amendment, then argument will happen. Students compete as either prosecution or defense against other schools, and are scored for their level of arguments and their performances throughout the debate. Senior and club president Mazzyln Paulson said, “I personally love to act and argue, which as a witness is most of what we do, I have met or grown closer with some of my closest friends because of mock trial and I honestly believe that this club has helped in all acets of my life.”
Mock Trial group picture in Los Angeles (Photo Credit: Mazzlyn Paulson)
On March 15-16, the MBHS team travelled to Carmel Highlands and have been traveling to places like Santa Barbara and the Bay Area since November to help prepare for competition.. In previous years, the team placed 16th, and 18th overall which the team did improve this year as they hoped. This year's state tournament had 34 of the county champions from all over California that our mock trial team must compete against. It took place at the state tournament in Los Angeles from March 13-16. The team ended up placing in the top eight in the state and had a great time overall. They debated against schools all over California such as Trinity Pacific Christian high school in Ventura, who took first place metal in the state competition.
Mock Trial is an after school club where anybody is welcome. Mock Trial helps you learn so much through arguing and figuring out real world problems. Josh Waldman is the Mock Trial teacher who also teaches AP world and intro to law, which goes along with his teachings in mock trial. Throughout Mock Trial, you get to make many friends, go to so many new places, and get new experiences. The members of the club work very hard with mock trials being 2 days a week. They had a lot of fun this year and are looking forward to next year and what is to come.
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