COUNTYWIDE : Mock Trial Competition Is ‘Cradle’ for Future Lawyers

In the case of People vs. Stover, it is the attorneys who are on trial.

Although none have passed the bar, some will win their case and go on to the next level: the California State Mock Trial Competition in Sacramento.

The attorneys, along with witnesses and court clerks, are high school students from all over Ventura County who are participating in the county’s ninth annual Mock Trial Competition at the Hall of Justice this week.

“It is kind of the cradle for people who might become attorneys,” said Patrick Forrest, a faculty adviser from Camarillo High School, one of 14 schools entered in the contest.

The winning team, to be chosen from among 280 students, will compete in the state finals in Sacramento in April. County winners will be announced tonight.

Tensions ran high in Courtroom 10 on Monday night during the first of six rounds of the competition. Students dressed in suits and ties or sophisticated dresses and pumps sat nervously awaiting their turns to speak.

The case of People vs. Stover unfolded before Ventura County Municipal Judge Barry B. Klopfer.

Security guard Jan Stover, who wore a large swastika on his uniform, beat African-American Dale Colver with a billy club Aug. 11, 1990, at Rover Labs in the hypothetical mid-size city of Lakerville, Calif.

The prosecution argued that Stover used excessive force, while the defense maintained that he acted in self-defense. It was the job of Stan Jacobs, an 18-year-old Camarillo senior, to defend Stover. Traci Vernardo, 17, captain of the 19-member Camarillo team, was charged with heading the prosecution against Stover.

Before the competition began, the two students spoke of their conviction to become attorneys after college.

“I’m a very argumentative sort of person,” said Traci, senior class president and tennis team co-captain who hopes to attend Stanford University. “My parents don’t appreciate that at home so much, so I thought I would try to use it somewhere else.”

Jacobs, who said he decided in ninth grade to become a lawyer, already has dived into the legal world by working in the district attorney’s office last summer as a clerk.

“I like going into competition and trying to extract what I want from what someone else is saying,” said Jacobs, the captain of his school’s speech and debate team. “It’s this power-crazy thing. You have to be in control of things or else you look like a complete fool.”