Argumentative Students Get Day in Court

For the would-be attorneys from Ventura County’s high schools, the case goes like this:

At 7:45 a.m. on Nov. 7, 1997, Millard High School freshman Nicky Blanc shot and killed senior Jackie Potomski with a hunting rifle.

Minutes after the make-believe shooting, a police officer approached Nicky, who opened fire. The officer returned shots and killed Nicky, leaving the police a dead suspect.

During the crime scene investigation, a student told police that he thought Nicky’s 19-year-old cousin Shawn Brunetti had actually planned the killing. Eventually, prosecutors charged Brunetti with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Tonight, about 400 students--dressed in business suits and carrying briefcases--will argue the imaginary case, People v. Brunetti, in front of Superior and Municipal Court judges.

Defense and prosecution teams from 16 high schools will pretend to be prosecutors, defense attorneys, witnesses, clerks and bailiffs in the 16th annual Mock Trial competition to begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Ventura County Hall of Justice.

“It takes a lot of guts to get up in front of a real judge and act like you know what you’re talking about, even if you don’t,” Buena High School senior Tiffany Day said Wednesday. “Sometimes a judge or an attorney will throw an objection out at you and you’ll have to respond [by] the seat of your pants.”

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Lawyers and teachers who volunteer their time as coaches say the competition gives students a look inside the legal system. Teens learn about the evidence code, pretrial motions and the Constitution. They write and rewrite questions, pore over evidence and dissect diagrams of the crime scene. And words like “hearsay,” “irrelevant” and “narrative” begin to roll off their tongues.

“It gives them a taste of the system,” said public defender Michael Schwartz, who serves as Oxnard High School’s coach. “They see that [the law] is not like ‘Perry Mason’ or ‘Matlock.’ It’s about preparation and lots of hard work.”

Students prepare for months, spending hundreds of hours after school and on weekends rehearsing. Team members at Buena High School began rehearsing last summer, and have met every Tuesday afternoon since. They also have held several practice trials with other teams.

Buena’s Yasmin Fisher, 17, said that although some of the rehearsals drag on, the excitement of the actual competition makes it all worthwhile.

“The practices stink and the late-night scrimmages stink,” she said. “But the competition is fun. You get to show what you’ve learned and what you can do.”

Students say the program also improves their speaking and thinking skills and boosts their self-confidence.

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Buena senior Danielle De Smeth, who was selected as “best attorney” in 1998, admitted she was nervous while standing in a hallway outside the courtroom in last year’s competition. But as soon as she walked into the room, she felt completely confident and comfortable. She said she felt like a real attorney.

Coaches say the students became deeply involved in this year’s case, which involved a gun collector and a long-standing rivalry tangled with jealousy, misplaced loyalty and romance.

Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren, who coordinates the event and recruits the attorneys and judges who keep score, said the mock trial is a chance for teens to learn about the law in a hands-on way. And in this case, the students have a chance to learn more about gun control and the constitutional right to bear arms.

“It is interactive education where they get to actually do rather than just having the information presented to them,” Perren said.

For some students, the competition sparks an interest in a legal career. Danielle said she thinks she wants to become an attorney, but prefers environmental or civil rights law.

Several former team members from La Reina High School--which won the county title in four of the past five years--now attend law school, according to faculty advisor Eileen DeBruno. One La Reina alumnus just passed the bar exam and is set to interview for a job with the county district attorney’s office.

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During a rehearsal session Wednesday at Westlake High School, students recited opening and closing statements and practiced questioning witnesses.

Carla Rodman, 17, stood in front of her teammates, took a deep breath and dove into her opening statement for the defense.

“My client did not plan, did not aid and abet and did not carry out the murder of Jackie Potomski,” Carla said forcefully. “My client will not admit that he is guilty of murder or conspiracy. He is innocent.”

When finished, she headed for her seat, sighed and said, “Oh, I changed the words back and skipped two sentences.”

But teacher Christina Harrison, who helped coach last year’s team to countywide victory, was more concerned about Carla keeping the statement to its allotted time. “If you keep it under four minutes, I’ll be a happy camper,” she said.

After a second night of competition on Monday, the four top teams will advance to the finals Feb. 25. The county’s winning team gets to compete in the state finals in Riverside on March 26-28.

Perren said it’s unfortunate the mock trials have become intensely competitive in the past few years.

“Competition has its appropriate place,” he said. “But we still have to understand that [the program] is a learning experience first, and a competition second.”