LAKEPORT, Calif. – For the fourth straight year, Middletown High School emerged as the champion of the Lake County Mock Trial competition.
Middletown competed with Upper Lake High School in the fourth annual event, held Friday at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
Judges Michael Lunas and Stephen Hedstrom presided over the morning and afternoon sessions, respectively.
The teams took turns presenting both the prosecution and the defense in the fictional case of “People v. Hayes,” about a college student accused of killing a campus security guard.
In addition to their coaches, teams were assisted in preparing by volunteers, including local attorneys.
Judge Hedstrom noted that the case documents were well-written, realistic and difficult.
“This is really the fun part,” he told the students at the start of the afternoon arguments, noting that the hard work was behind them.
Middletown High's team included Abigail Elder, Asia Firebaugh, Connor Gill, Christian Hicks, Aiden Isaia, Jonathan Nance, Kiana Newsom, Gracie Pachie, Gary Pickrell IV, Noah Schenck, Audrey Showen, Trevor Smith, Parker Spadero, Megan Talbert, Jon Thomas III and Jessica Zell.
Upper Lake's team consisted of Dante Bassignani, David Becerra-Lopez, Darlene Duncan, Emily Dunn, Christopher Fecht, Austin Hill, Cheyanne Obedoza, Adrianna Saldana, Mercedes De Los Santos, Armando Santos, Crystal Smith, Zachary Sneathen, Rosemary Su, Darren Swaney, Macy Tomila and Lyndsay Wade.
Middletown will now move on to the state competition in Sacramento March 18 to 20.
Videos of the morning and afternoon arguments, and the awards ceremony, can be seen above and below.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.