While most of the district students took their week off from school, 18 Sobrato High School students will be busy at work in room B116 preparing for the Santa Clara County Mock Trial Quarterfinals.
High schools across the county participate as mock lawyers and witnesses to grasp a hands-on experience of a courtroom. In Santa Clara, participating schools will compete in the preliminary rounds which narrow down the top eight teams to advance to the quarterfinals. Four of the eight teams will them compete for the semifinals, down to just two teams for the finals. The final team will represent Santa Clara County at the state level.
Sobrato has been involved in mock trail since 2005; they’ve made it to the quarterfinals once in 2009.
This year’s case People v. Buschell is about college student Ryan Buschell who was accused of murdering her friend Becca Abeles at a music festival last year. The prosecution team at Sobrato, who will fight to show Bushell is guilty of second-degree murder, obtained the final victory to qualify the team to the quarterfinals earlier this month.
Sobrato will compete against Prospect High School at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Santa Clara County Superior Courthouse for their chance at the semi-finals.
