Omaha Team Wins High School Mock Trial State Competition
Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart won the recent 2019 Lyle Strom High School Mock Trial State Championship, earning the right to represent Nebraska at the national contest this May.
Creighton Preparatory School was second in the contest, and Columbus Scotus Central Catholic High School finished third.
Members of Duchesne’s winning team were Juliana Angel, Sophie Geis, Raleigh Kreis, Sofia Martinez-Thibodeau, Joslyn Panzer, Dorothy Roland and Sabrina Sulaymanova. Brenda Thoene is their teacher coach, and Gerald Laughlin and Judge Stefanie Marinez served as their volunteer attorney coaches.
The state contest brought 12 teams from across the state to the Lancaster County Justice and Law Enforcement Center in Lincoln last Monday and Tuesday. Teams advanced to the state contest by winning regional competitions.
The Duchesne team will travel to Evansville, Indiana, for the May 6-9 National High School Mock Trial Championship.
The Judge Lyle Strom High School Mock Trial State Championship is administered by the Law-Related Education Committee of the Nebraska State Bar Foundation with support of the legal community and state judges.
“Congratulations to all 12 teams competing in the 2019 State Championship here in Lincoln,” said Steve Guenzel, president of the Bar Foundation, at an awards banquet in Lincoln. “You are here tonight because of your outstanding work ethic, your dedication, your understanding of the legal system and your development of courtroom trial skills.”
The state mock trial program is in its 31st year, making it the foundation’s longest running law-related education program. It is named for retired U.S. District Court Senior Judge Lyle Strom.
“The High School Mock Trial Program is a sterling example of the kinds of efforts needed for each of us to live out our civic responsibilities,” Guenzel said. “It is about understanding the legal system, practicing civility in our discourse and our behavior and upholding the strong tradition of fairness, equality and decorum that is the underpinning of the American judicial system.”
Coordinators for Region 10, the host of this year’s state championship, were Lancaster District Court Judge John Colborn and Lancaster County Judge Laurie Yardley. The coordinator for Region 11/12 in the Omaha area was Douglas County Judge Tom Harmon, who recently received the Supreme Court Chief Justice’s Distinguished Judge Award for his role as regional coordinator in the mock trial program.
Mark Laughlin and Patrick Cooper were the attorney coaches for the second-place Creighton Prep team. Jason Miclak and Erik Klutman were the attorney coaches for the third-place Scotus team.
Finishing in fourth place was Wayne High School. Retired Judge Bob Ensz was the school’s volunteer attorney coach.
Other competing teams and their attorney coaches were York High School with Kent Rauert, Kelly Thomas and Steve Fillman; Fillmore Central High School with Lucas Swartzendruber; Bellevue West High School with Todd West; Grand Island Northwest High School with Jennifer Kearney; Ainsworth High School with no attorney coach; Dundy County Stratton High School with; Ashley Spahn; Ogallala High School with Robert Harvoy; and Gering High School with Bell Island and Brandon Panattoni.
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