More than 600 students on 32 teams representing 30 high schools, including FUSD's A.B. Miller, Fontana, Kaiser and Summit High Schools, began competing in the 28th annual San Bernardino County Mock Trial program on November 3.

In the Mock Trial competition, students simulate a criminal case by acting out the primary characters on both sides of the courtroom before a real judge.  This year's case is People vs. Bratton, a murder trial featuring pretrial argument on the Fourth Amendment concerning unreasonable search and seizure.

The preliminary trials of the competition will be held at the Foothill Law and Justice Center in Rancho Cucamonga and the county courthouses in Victorville and San Bernardino.  The four rounds of the preliminaries will be held at 5 p.m. on November 3, 10, 17, and December 1.

The Mock Trials competition is a wonderful opportunity for our high school students to broaden their educational experience.  The county schools office and the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office are co-sponsors of the competition. The public is invited to attend all rounds of the competition, but there is limited seating.

After the preliminaries, the top four teams will advance to the semifinals on December 5 at 9 a.m. at the San Bernardino Civic Courthouse at 303 W. Third Street.   The finals will be held at the Foothill Law and Justice Center in Rancho Cucamonga on Saturday, December 12.  The winners of the county competition will move on to the state finals March 19-21, 2009 in San Jose.

This year’s competing high schools and their respective districts are: Apple Valley and Academy of Academic Excellence (Charter) - Apple Valley Unified; Barstow - Barstow Unified; Los Osos and Rancho Cucamonga - Chaffey Joint Union; Colton - Colton Joint Unified; A.B. Miller, Fontana, Kaiser and Summit - Fontana Unified; Encore (charter), Hesperia and Sultana - Hesperia Unified; Redlands (two teams) and Redlands East Valley (REV) - Redlands Unified; Carter and Rialto - Rialto Unified; Arroyo Valley, Cajon, Pacific, San Bernardino, and San Gorgonio - San Bernardino Unified; Serrano - Snowline Joint Unified; Upland - Upland Unified; and Silverado, University Preparatory and Victor Valley - Victor Valley Union High.  Also participating are private schools Aquinas, Arrowhead Christian Academy of Redlands (two teams), and Ontario Christian.

Last year, Redlands defeated Redlands East Valley in the finals.

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