Cypress High Wins State Legal Title : A Mock Trial Cliffhanger

In a polished performance rivaling a courtroom scene from “L.A. Law,” Cypress High School on Thursday narrowly captured the California State Mock Trial Championship. The victory marked the first time an Orange County school has won the 7-year-old competition.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” Cypress coach John Gruendyke said. “I’ve also coached athletics, and I’ve never had a group of students that worked this hard, this well.”

Rival John Marshall High School of Los Angeles actually scored one more cumulative point in the judging, but the winner was selected by a majority final vote of the evaluators in the final round of the state competition Thursday morning. By being voted the top overall squad by two of the three evaluators, the 12-member Cypress team won a place at the national finals in Dallas next month.

“It’s incredible! It’s just one of the greatest feelings!” said Philip Jimenez, a 17-year-old Cypress senior who portrayed the defendant in a hypothetical case.

Argued Before Real Judges

Cypress and Marshall were among 21 county champion teams that argued a hypothetical criminal case before real judges in the contest sponsored by the Los Angeles office of the Constitutional Rights Foundation. The case involved a defendant charged with receiving stolen property and battery on a police officer.

During a three-day round-robin competition that began Tuesday, the participating teams were required to argue both sides of the issue and expected to cite case law dealing with search and seizure doctrines of the Fourth and 14th amendments.

Their performances were evaluated for courtroom demeanor, the students’ knowledge of the issue, understanding and performance of their roles as prosecution and defense attorneys, witnesses, defendants, bailiffs and courtroom clerks. Although presiding judges handed out verdicts at the end of each round, the verdicts did not influence the final score.

After beating the other 19 teams, Cypress and Marshall battled out the final round in the Sacramento County Supervisors’ chambers before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Judith C. Chirlin.

Judging the students’ performance were Marvin Baxter, appointments secretary for Gov. George Deukmejian; Judge Alexander Williams of Los Angeles Superior Court and Cecily Bond, presiding judge of the Sacramento Municipal Court.

Both Teams Win High Praise

“They were fabulous, better than I’ve ever seen up here before--both teams,” Chirlin said. “For the most part, these kids are better than many of the advocates I see in court on a daily basis.”

Gruendyke, a history teacher and mock trial coach for four years, said the championship was the last thing he expected in October when he began the trying task of recruiting Cypress students for the team.

“It was difficult to recruit,” he said. “It was not the big draw at the time. . . . If you would have asked last October if I thought we could win, I would have said, ‘No way.’ ”

Now, however, it appears that Gruendyke will have no difficulty attracting participants for next year’s competition. Already, 11th-grade team members interviewed said they plan to join next year’s team.

“I enjoyed being a lawyer,” said Arifa Mirza, 16, a Cypress junior. “It’s nerve-racking at times, but when you’re done, it feels really good. I’ll return.”

But the enjoyment was not without pressure and sacrifices. According to Cypress’ two attorney coaches, preparation involved grueling hours of work after school and on weekends.

“We taught them about law--pretrial motions, cross-examinations and legal issues,” said Marc Rozenberg, an Orange County deputy district attorney.

Rozenberg and Creighton Barber Laz, also an Orange County deputy district attorney, had practiced with the students at least 12 hours each week since October.

Team member Marlene Boehm, who played a witness in the case, said the amount of time involved in preparation almost prompted her to quit the team.

“I had so many things to do, and you have to make this a priority,” she said in her hotel room as the team prepared to return to Orange County. “But it’s a team. It’s important, and I couldn’t let everyone else down. And now, I’m glad I didn’t!”

The organizers also awarded Cypress team member Craig Broscow a best-attorney award for acting as a defense lawyer, plus another for acting as a prosecution lawyer when the teams switched.

Marshall team members Ali Williams and Christopher Nichelson also won best-attorney awards.