Dos Pueblos Mock Trial Team A traveled to Los Angeles for the California State Mock Trial Competition and placed third out of 34 teams. The State competition took place at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse from March 14 to March 16.

Team A has gone to State multiple times in the last few years. Last year, Team A also traveled to State and got seventh place overall.

“Honestly, my main goal for State was just to [place] higher than seven because I feel like, already, our team was a lot better than we were last year,” team member Milena Rodrigeuz (11) said. “I’m really proud of both myself and also my team. I can absolutely see all the growth that we’ve gone through.”

Hannah Krieshok, a teacher advisor of mock trial, also expressed her pride for this year’s team and how well they performed at State.

“All the seniors gave some of the best performances I’ve ever seen them do in all four years of mock trial, which was really cool,” Krieshok said. “[Team A is] really close and do a lot of work to build camaraderie, and they also work really hard at mock trial, and they’re all very professional in everything that they do, which I really appreciate … I just love them all as individuals.”

The competition takes place in a realistic courtroom set up and works as an actual court case. Each student takes on their own role, with examples being an attorney, a witness, a clerk, or a bailiff. The competition is scored not based on the verdict decided by an actual judge, who is watching the trial, but based on performance and how well students do in each of their roles.

This year, the case that was worked on was about a fictional kidnapping within an election. One of the candidates, Taylor Alexander, was kidnapped and accused Logan Gold, who was the spouse of the other candidate, Harper Dorais, of kidnapping them.

Sienna Valentine (12), a Team A captain, explained the specifics of the case.

“The prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Logan Gold, the defendant, is guilty of kidnapping and all the charges within that,” Valentine said. “Of course, it’s a lot more nuanced.”

Valentine said her favorite part of the case was the amount of evidence involved and the diversity of the evidence.

“There’s tire tracks, there’s receipts, there’s a toxicology report, there’s all the witnesses, and there’s the possibility of an alibi,” Valentine said. “And so, I think that there was just a lot of moving parts, and that can come across in [a] complicated case, but also the possibility of painting the case into a really nice picture, and I think that’s what our team did really well, is just bringing all of the evidence to make sense together for what we’re trying to prove, whether that be guilty or not guilty.”

Both Rodriguez and Valentine said they enjoyed specific moments during State, especially when the team got together after their last round.

“After we learned that we hadn’t gotten into the championship round, our whole team had a big circle that was maybe almost two hours long of everyone going around and sharing things that they were grateful for,” Rodrigeuz said. “And it ended up just being a big circle of all of us sobbing because we loved each other so much and also because of the seniors leaving, and so it was very sad and emotional.”

Though Valentine acknowledged that the individual students prepared and worked very hard for their win, she also wanted to acknowledge the aid from outside help, such as the coaches and the moms that helped out, which she called the “mock moms.”

“I do think that there is something to be said for all of our coaches and for all the mock moms,” Valentine said. “I think that they deserve a nice shout out for everything that they’ve done for the team because it really wouldn’t have been possible without them.”

When looking at the future, Valentine said that she hopes that through her experience, she will leave behind a legacy with the knowledge that she’s learned and tried to show others.

“I’m graduating, [and] someone else is going to fill my role,” Valentine said. “So, it’s really just about leaving the knowledge that I’ve gained behind to set up the team for success in the future.”

In terms of the future, Rodriguez aims to head back to State next year and score better.

“Next year … I want us to win, and I think we can do it,” Rodriguez said.