The Ventura County Office of Education is pleased to announce that a Ventura County team won first place in the 2024 California Mock Trial Finals that were held over the weekend in Los Angeles. Trinity Pacific Christian School in Thousand Oaks was named the 2024 California Mock Trial Finals Champions after the competition that included schools from throughout the state.

This is the second time in three years that Trinity Pacific has come in first at the state level. They last won the state competition in 2021 when it was held virtually due to the pandemic. The Trinity Pacific team (pictured) will now advance to the National Mock Trial competition to be held from May 2 - 5 in Wilmington, Delaware.

Trinity Pacific wasn’t the only Ventura County school to receive an award at the 2024 California Mock Trial Finals. Here are all of the local winners:

• 2024 California Mock Trial Finals Champions: Trinity Pacific Christian School
• Outstanding Prosecution Pretrial Attorney: Jenavieve Ahuja, Trinity Pacific Christian School
• Courtroom Artist, 2nd Place: Ella Ochoa, Channel Islands High School
• Courtroom Artist, Honorable Mention: Athena Errico, Oaks Christian School

A complete list of winners in the California Mock Trial Finals is available here and more information about Ventura County Mock trial is available at www.vcoe.org/MockTrial.

More about the 2024 Ventura County Mock Trial

The Mock Trial competition is coordinated annually by the Ventura County Office of Education. The event brings courtroom drama to life as students take on the roles of participants in a criminal case, including attorneys, witnesses, bailiffs, and journalists. This year’s fictitious case, People v. Clark, was about the murder of a technology company CEO. The students present their cases in real courtrooms before actual judges. Local attorneys volunteer to serve as scorers.

The high schools that participated in this year’s Mock Trial are:

• Adolfo Camarillo High School
• Agoura High School
• Buena High School
• Channel Islands
• Fillmore High School
• Hueneme High School
• La Reina High School
• Newbury Park High School
• Nordhoff High School
• Oak Park High School
• Oaks Christian School
• Rio Mesa High School
• Royal High School
• Saint Bonaventure High School
• Santa Paula High School
• Santa Susana High School
• St. Augustine Academy
• Thousand Oaks High School
• Trinity Pacific Christian School
• Ventura High School
• Westlake High School