Countywide : High School Wins Mock Trial Tourney

For the second year in a row, Thousand Oaks High School students will represent Ventura County in the California State Mock Trial Competition in Sacramento.

The Thousand Oaks team won the 10th annual Ventura County Competition Thursday night. The 20-member team was honored in an awards ceremony led by county schools Assistant Supt. Charles Weiss and presiding Ventura County Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren.

More than 250 students from 15 schools competed in the three-night event, arguing the fictitious case of People vs. Bell, in which an activist is accused of arson and incitement of others to commit an unlawful act.

Thousand Oaks High also held the county title last year and from 1985 to 1988. Camarillo High, winner of the county competition in 1984 and 1989, placed second this year. La Reina High placed third this year and Santa Paula High School came in fourth.

The statewide competition, funded with grants from the state Department of Education, is co-sponsored by the California State Bar Assn., California Young Lawyers’ Assn. and the Los Angeles-based Constitutional Rights Foundation.

Thousand Oaks, which placed 11th statewide last year, will face 26 other teams from around California in this year’s championship, to be held April 2-5. The winning team will go to the national championship in Atlanta in May.