Northgate High Advances to Semi-Finals in Mock Trial Competition

The Northgate High School mock trial team has advanced to the semi-finals in that tightly contested competition.

The Northgate squad will take on Miramonte High from Orinda on Thursday. Northgate will take the defense side while Miramonte High will play the role of the prosecutors.

The other semi-final pits Cal High from San Ramon on the prosecution side against Alhambra High from Miramonte as the defense team.

The two winners will face off Tuesday in the finals at the Contra Costa County Courthouse in Martinez.

The county champion will advance to the state competition in Riverside in late March.

The 30th annual competition began in early February when 13 high school teams began competing.

Throughout the competition, the students have been dealing with a hypothetical case that featured a resident accused of assault with a deadly weapon as well as violating a new anti-bullying and cyber-bullying statute.

Each contest has been tried in front of active county judges and scored by active and retired prosecutors, public defenders, attorneys and senior law students.

The schools each began with two teams, one prosecution and one defense. Those two divisions were combined into one team for the advancing schools in the later rounds.