Countywide : Student Teams Have Their Day in Court

Simi Valley High School senior Zakiya Darby voiced the consensus of the witnesses outside Courtroom 13: “Angeline is freaked.”

Zakiya and other classmates of senior Angeline Koo, 17, whispered sympathetically as they peered through glass doors into the courtroom at the Ventura County Government Center where Angeline, their team’s defense attorney, was making her case during a round of the countywide mock trial competition.

“I would never want to be the attorney,” said Zakiya, 17. “It’s too much work.” Senior Dawn di Raimondo, 18, agreed. “It’s better to be a witness,” she said. “All you have to do is remember your testimony.”

Meanwhile Angeline, named best lawyer for defense in last year’s competition, defended an activist on trial for arson and incitement of others to commit an unlawful act. She was one of more than 250 students from 15 schools who played attorneys, witnesses, bailiffs and clerks.

“I’m really nervous,” said Angeline, who was handed two stuffed animals to help calm her down as she came out of the courtroom. “I’ve done this before but every time I learn more and I realize all the things I don’t know. It makes me want to work even harder for the next trial.”

At La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks, students sacrifice afternoons, lunch periods and weekends to prepare for the trials, said Mark Scarberry, a Pepperdine law professor who coaches La Reina team.

“What’s amazing is their enthusiasm and how quickly they catch on,” said Scarberry, whose wife teaches chemistry at the school.

Once the trials begin, things get tougher, said Thousand Oaks High School senior Greg Leitzel, 17. “Everybody wants to have the edge.”

Students’ performances are scored by real judges and attorneys who act as judges and juries for the competition. “I would hate to be against any of you in a trial,” Deputy Public Defender Mary Jones told a group of students at the end of Tuesday’s competition. “You would be hard to beat.”

This year’s preliminary winners, announced to Beatlesque screams from the students, are former county champs La Reina High, Thousand Oaks High, Camarillo High and Santa Paula High, which edged out fifth-place Simi Valley High.

Santa Paula has made it to the finals in three out of the past five years, but has never won, said Ed Arguelles, the team’s coach.

“The student body is 70% Hispanic,” Arguelles said. “That’s very different from the other schools that make it. . . . A lot of our students have part-time jobs. Many haven’t had some of the advantages of coming from a middle- or upper-class families. They have fewer resources to draw from.”

The four winning schools will vie for the county championship tonight. The winning team will compete in a state competition in Sacramento April 2-5.