Elk Grove High judged No. 1 in county mock trial competition

Elk Grove High School prevailed over 16 other high schools to place first in the 2017 Gordon D. Schaber Sacramento County Mock Trial Competition.

The team will advance to the California Mock Trial Competition to be held March 24-26 in Riverside.

The mock trial competition simulates a trial proceeding in which students fill the roles of pre-trial counsel, prosecuting and defense attorneys, witnesses, court clerks, bailiffs and jurors before a presiding judge and two scoring judges. Volunteers from local law firms and legal organizations served as scoring judges for the five-day event, according to news release from the Sacramento County Office of Education, which coordinates the competition.

Sacramento Country Day School placed second, followed by Rio Americano High School in third place and Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep Charter High School in fourth place. Also among the top teams were Sheldon High School, fifth place; St. Francis High School, sixth place; Jesuit High School, seventh place; and Del Campo High School, eighth place,

Winners were announced at an awards ceremony Monday. Pamala Wu, director of marketing and public relations for the UC Davis School of law served as emcee.

California’s Mock Trial Competition is sponsored by the Constitutional Rights Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan, community-based organization dedicated to educating young people about the importance of civic participation in a democratic society, according to the news release.

This story was originally published February 28, 2017 at 8:28 PM with the headline "Elk Grove High judged No. 1 in county mock trial competition."