Tessa DeVilbiss
Staff Writer

The possibility of advancing from the county to state competition isn’t the only appeal that mock trial holds, but it’s a big one.

Last year, the Cal High mock trial team won the Contra Costa County Mock Trial Championship for the first time in 15 years, and then went on to place sixth at the state championships in Riverside, a long awaited accomplishment for the team.

The team is looking to repeat that success as Cal begins the defense of its title this week when the opening rounds of this year’s competition begin.

“I think we have a really strong team this year,” said sophomore Marnie Lowe, a second-year defense attorney. “We have a really strong chance of going far.”

Mock trial, a first semester class taught by Brian Barr, introduces students to the law while they prepare a fictional criminal case to take to court against 15 other county schools.

This year’s case is a murder trial in which a college student, Ryan Buschell, is accused of killing her best friend, Becca Abeles, to protect a $20 million trust fund.

Each school has a prosecution and defense team, featuring four attorneys and witnesses, that prepares its side of the case to present before practicing judges and attorneys.

The prosecution has the burden of proving the defendant, Buschell, is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, while the defense’s job is to create reasonable doubt.

All 20 students on the mock trial team have been working hard in preparation for the county competition by participating in numerous scrimmages.

The team beefed up its practice schedule this year by attending the inaugural Carmel Invitational Jan. 21-22. Each side participated four or five trials against some of the top teams from Northern and Southern California.

Since mock trial requires an extensive knowledge of the law, the team works with three attorney coaches: Ellen Rosenbluth, Catherine Woodward and Larry Lowe. All are practicing or former attorneys who regularly meet with students to focus on specific areas of the case.
Rosenbluth, who has been with the team for eight years, focuses on the pretrial motion, which is like an appellate court argument, and the examination of witnesses.

Larry Lowe, a first-year coach, helps attorneys with learning the rules of evidence and making objections. Woodward assists attorneys with opening statements and closing arguments and the theatrics of team’s performance.

“I help them develop a theme, elements of the crime, and make sure they are persuasive,” said Woodward, a coach for the past two years. “It is a real advantage that so many of the kids in the class now got to go to state. Now, they’re ahead of the game and they learned a lot.”

Although there are 12 members of the team who competed at state last year, several have switched their roles.

Senior captain Gunjan Baid moved from being a pretrial to trial attorney, while senior Erica Tsai and sophomore Ashton DeLano switched from witnesses to trial attorneys. Junior Nick Fajardo went from being a witness to pretrial attorney.

“I like mock trial because it makes people confident in public speaking and because you can go into a real courtroom,” said Baid, who is the team’s lead prosecution attorney. “Mock trial has made me consider a career in law.”

As a team co-captain, Baid helps organize the prosecution team and coordinate the team as a whole. She also works with the coaches by providing feedback to the team.

But she doesn’t do all this alone. Junior Karishma Pareek is also a team captain.

As the team’s only third-year attorney, Pareek is kind of the elder statesman of the group.

“I took the class because I knew I wanted a speech and debate class. My sister recommended it to me,” said Pareek, the defense’s pretrial attorney. “Our training is really similar to what actual lawyers go through. I would definitely do mock trial again in college if I get the chance.”

Despite the team losing five senior trial attorneys from last year’s championship team, including all three prosecution trial attorneys, Pareek is optimistic about the season.

“We always thought this year would be for rebuilding, but the new people are doing very well and people from last year have stepped up and are doing great,” said Pareek.

So, what’s the verdict? The jury is still out, but the team has worked hard to make up for key losses. With newcomers who are doing well, and returning members showing a lot of potential, the team should continue their tradition of placing among the top three in county.

One of two schools to reach the county semifinals the past three years, Cal opens competition Tuesday with its defense team against Heritage. The prosecution team faces Richmond Thursday night.

All trials start around 6 p.m. at the A.F. Bray Building, 1020 Ward St., in Martinez.

The preliminary rounds continue Feb. 15 with a rematch of last year’s finals when Cal’s defense faces Northgate. The prosecution goes against Acalanes on Feb. 16.

After these first two weeks of competition, the top eight teams based on win-loss record advance to the quarterfinals. The county champion qualifies for the state finals March 23-25 in Sacramento.

Editor in chief Patrice Mardo contributed to this story