Mock trial is a simulated court trial that features students in the roles of attorneys, witnesses, court clerks, and bailiffs.
Congrats to our River City HS MT Defense squad, for their fantastic performance tonight against one of Pleasanton Grove’s teams. Shabnam’s performance as defendant Toby Clark earned her our team’s MVP. We get scores tomorrow, but I have us up by a few points. Great objections & responses, and all the witness testimony was very strong! Pre-trial, open, and close were very well executed. Prosecution is up on Tuesday.
01/25/2023
I swear our students are under those dots. Finally, we’re back to live in-person trials! Congrats to our RCHS Mock Trial teams 1st round Defense Team’s performance tonight against a very capable St. Francis Prosecution!! Our team is composed of almost all 1st time competitors. I’m so proud of their efforts so far this year as we’ve seen some incredible improvements. Special thanks to our chaperone and our assistant coach this year, Darius (center right). Also, my sincerest thanks to two more RC grads, and MT alum, Mia A. (not pictured) and Andrew (on the right) for all of your help, insight and support this season. Our attorney coach Allison is also not pictured here - ah, we’ll try to get a more inclusive pic next time. Prosecution is up on Thursday:)
09/09/2022
First peak at this year's case: "People v. Franks is the trial of Jordan Franks, a young actor who finished a run of performances of the Shakespeare-adaptation Macbeth at Sea on the cruise ship Heart of the Ocean. Franks is charged with robbery and battery of Franks’ fellow actor, Billie Scher."🥳🤩
03/21/2022
The Mock Trial Team finished with 1 win and 3 losses in the California State Mock Trial Finals this weekend, final ranking 25th out of 32 teams. Lest you think that is a poor showing - quite the contrary. Our three losses were all within just a few percentage points, and one loss - to Lake County - was within 7 total points (out of 619). The only runaway in our rounds was our defeat of Tioga High School.
Round 1 Cal High 52%, RCHS 48% LOSS
Round 2 Justin Siena 51.5%, RCHS 48.5% LOSS
Round 3 Middletown 50.5%, RCHS 49.5% LOSS
Round 4 RCHS 54%, Tioga 46% WIN
Total points for the tournament - RCHS 1451 (49.61%); Opponents 1474 (50.39%)
Round MVPs were:
1. Gabriela Costantino, prosecution witness
2. Vanessa Onate, defense attorney
3. Carlie Pitts, prosecution attorney
4. Vanessa Onate, defense attorney
If you see these students or any team member, offer them your congratulations, this is one of our best showings ever.
Team members: Alex Anissimov, Mia Antonelli, Darius Canuela, Cara Mann, Vasilisa Nikolaeva, Vanessa Onate, Carlie Pitts, Mariana Castro, Gabriela Costantino, Alexis Enos, Mackenzie Her, Darrin McCammon, Teagan Morton, Sara Tadokoro, Olivia Neal, Jasmeen Kaur.
Many thanks to our coaches Matt Smith and Allison Zuvela.
03/20/2022
Round 4 is in the books, and although we won't know the score until tomorrow, our Defense team completely overwhelmed the champions from Tuolumne County, Tioga High School. It was an unusual round with lots of technical issues (like the random guy from the opposing team frozen in our team introductions), but our students handled it all with perseverance and grace. Congratulations to Vanessa Onate for her second MVP selection. Team and individual awards will be presented tomorrow after the state championship round.
03/19/2022
Round 2 last night and Round 3 this morning were both close matches (we won't find out results, scores, and rankings until after the tournament is over tomorrow). Last night our defense side took on Justin-Siena HS from Napa County and lead attorney Vanessa Onate was selected MVP. This morning our prosecution side competed against Middletown HS from Lake County and defense lead Carlie Pitts, pictured here, was selected as MVP. Final round for this year - and for me for all years! - starts at 3pm today. Awards tomorrow at 1pm. Sorry, no livestream for this tourney.
03/12/2022
This group of students will represent Yolo County in the 2022 California Mock Trial State Finals starting on Thursday, March 17, virtual on Zoom for the second year. Side assignments were announced today, and we'll be on the prosecution for Round 1 against a team TBA. Unfortunately, and unlike our local tournament, tournament rounds will not be livestreamed or recorded.
03/09/2022
A mix of pics from last night's Mock Trial awards at the downtown Holiday Inn. River City took the Yolo County title over DaVinci Charter of Davis, and Elk Grove High defeated Sacramento Country Day for the Sacramento County championship.
River City defeated DaVinci Charter Academy of Davis for the Yolo County Championship and will continue on to the State Mock Trial Tournament March 17-20. The state tournament will be held virtually for the second year.
At the tournament awards presentation Monday night, Vanessa Onate was selected MVP and top attorney, and Mackenzie Her was chosen as one of the top witnesses in the tournament. Congratulations to all participants!
River City is yolo county champs!
Live at the mock trial awards, awaiting the crowning of the county champs!
03/05/2022
Yolo County Championship Round, Defense vs DaVinci Charter of Davis - Saturday 9AM livestreamed on Youtube:
