By John Le, Staff Writer and Photographer
On Saturday, October 21st, Fountain Valley High School’s mock trial team participated in the annual Junipero Serra Catholic High School mock trial tournament. The team successfully won both of their rounds against Junipero Serra Catholic and Rosary Academy.
The prosecution went up first, going up against the notorious Rosary Academy. Pretrial attorney, junior Ian Hsu, started it off. Defending for a piece of evidence to be admissible in trial, he had won his case.
Then, attorneys Hsu and seniors Jennifer Nguyen and Taylor Nguyen stepped up. In hand, the witnesses also took the spotlight to tell their story. With senior Kendrick Nguyen, junior James Bola, and sophomores Siomara Ponce and Kathleen Ha, all of them told their stories to prove defendant guilty. Meanwhile, sophomore Kim Pham was the court clerk keeping track of time. Witnesses Bola and Ponce made strong appeals to the court, while attorney Taylor Nguyen wrapped the trial with a strong closing argument. Although the verdict was not in their favor, the prosecution took the first win for the team.
The defense went up for the second trial against the hosting school, Junipero Serra. Pretrial attorney, senior Jane Liu, started off the trial with an incredible argument. Although her argument was not in favor of the judge, the team continued to showcase what else they had in hand.
Senior attorneys Ly Nguyen, Hannah Brine, and Kaitlyn Truong took their place in the trial. Along with their witnesses, seniors Brett McCready and Brigitte Doan and juniors Dylan Lee and Helen Dang-Vu, once again, stole the spotlight. In addition, freshman Natalie Papazian took control of the courtroom as her role of the bailiff. With attorney Brine making strong objections and an emotional appeal by Doan, the defendant, those factors helped contribute to their win, although the verdict was not in their favor.
At the end of both trials, the individual champion award was nominated by a student from the opposite team. Attorney Taylor Nguyen received the award from the first trial, while witness Doan received the award from the second trial.
The team has been excited for taking back-to-back wins. As this is a dress rehearsal for their season, they are excited to know they are starting off on a good note.
Senior attorney Jennifer Nguyen said, “I hope that our team will always continue to improve game after game whether we win or lose, and of course I hope that our team will go to playoffs this year as well.”
