Written By Laura Bartels and Steven Geddes

Fillmore High’s legal team made major strides during the Ventura County Mock Trial competition on February 26th and 27th, 2018. The highlight of the competition was Fillmore’s defense team saving their defendant from a life sentence with a NOT GUILTY verdict against both Villanova and Pacifica High Schools. The Fillmore team, now in its sixth year, consisted of 6 seniors, 4 juniors, 2 sophomores and 5 freshmen. At the awards ceremony held at the Oxnard Civic Arts Center, freshman Olivia Palazuelos won a Ventura County Second Place Award as defense witness Acorn Shop Owner Avery Williams; senior Paulina Guerrero won Third Place as Prosecution witness Morgan Bonderman; and senior Mishell Beylik received a Most Valuable Player award was also garnering admiration from her team and coaches for her leadership. Mishell Beylik was also recognized and honored along with Manuel Gutierrez and Paulina Guerrero for participating in mock trial all four years of high school.

This year’s fictitious case, People v. Davidson, was the trial of Casey Davidson, a young person advocating liberal immigration policies who faced a felony homicide charge of the murder of foe Alex Thompson, an advocate from a conservative group seeking to limit immigration. Davidson’s defense team kept her out of prison with showing the court that the prosecution could not prove its case “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Fillmore High School students portrayed each principal of the cast in a courtroom, including attorneys, witnesses, defendant, court clerk, and bailiff. The trial was performed in real courtrooms at the Ventura Superior Court before actual judges and scored by Ventura County practicing attorneys.

The trials all begin a pre-trial motion designed to exclude evidence gained by what defense claims is an illegal search. This year’s pre-trial motion focused on the Fourth Amendment protection against the government using GPS location data from a third party GPS provider to track the defendant. In the case, the police detective obtained a court order pursuant to the Stored Communications Act to obtain location data for the defendant’s car late at night over the course of a couple of weeks at victim’s warehouse. The GPS data from Defendant’s car communicated the location to satellites in space and with this information, the location of the car GPS can be tracked within 50 feet of its precise location. GPS and satellite companies keep and retain location data to help them improve features of their products. Freshman George Mooradian won both his motions arguing that the government is allowed to track people using GPS technology. The present laws which were written before the widespread use of cell phone location data and electronic tracking allows such invasions of privacy. The defense junior Edgar Gonzalez argued that the antiquated Stored Communications Act provides too wide a loophole for law enforcement to routinely track people. The students were able to follow the actual case which the fictitious case was based when they heard oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court in November 2017 in People v. Carpenter. It is anticipated that the results of the Supreme Court case will have landmark implications for the 4th amendment and privacy laws.

The prosecution attorneys, senior Mishell Beylik, junior Damian Mesa, and sophomore Isabella Palazuelos hit the ground running in round one against Rio Mesa High School and again in round three against Agoura High School. Prosecution attorney for pre-trial motion, freshman George Mooradian, strongly presented the prosecution’s argument of the law which the court was required to follow due to precedent which allowed tracking a person using a car GPS. The judge was so compelled by Attorney Mooradian’s persuasive nature, keen understanding of the facts and understanding of the nuances of the law that he denied the defense’s motion This win gave Fillmore’s prosecution a huge advantage resulting in a guilty verdict and one of Fillmore’s highest scoring rounds as well as a nomination nod to Mr. Mooradian for Best Pretrial Attorney.

In a strong opening statement, senior Mishell Beylik articulated the prosecution’s theory of motive, means and opportunity and tied the facts of the case to each element of the law of first degree murder. She developed for the judge and jury, how the prosecution would prove ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ that the defendant was guilty. Attorney Beylik’s convincing performance was singled out for comment by one of the scoring attorneys and she admirably scored solid blocks of 8s and 9. Prosecution attorney junior Damian Mesa garnered a perfect 10 for his prosecutorial skills and strong control of the courtroom. Sophomore and new to the team Isabella Palazuelos scored solid 8s and 9s. Ms. Palanzuelos was recognized and praised by the scoring attorneys for her bright and calculated cross examination of opposing team witnesses.

The police detective witness was played convincingly by senior Maria Elena Fernandez earning 8s and 9s. Freshman Montana Spangler played the expert medical examiner Devon Morrison who had to have a keen and facile understanding of wounds due to blunt force trauma, blood splatter and skin cell DNA. Ms. Spangler’s spunk, humor and tenacity earned her strong scores, including a 9 which is a huge accomplishment for a first year participant in mock trial. Freshman Melissa Tovar played the role of the local newspaper reporter Hayden Rodriguez earning an admirable score of 8. Ms. Tovar was extremely important to the team as she was able to fill in when there were unexpected vacancies. Senior Paulina Guerrero played Morgan Bonderman, friend of the victim bringing believability and credibility to the character and earning the 3rd place witness award at the county level as well as strong team scores. Rounding out the prosecution was new to the team senior Alexander Ponce whose job as Court Clerk was to keep the official time, a crucial role in a competition in which every second counts. Clerk Ponce accurately handled the timing for both the Fillmore and the challenging teams. His performance not only received a score of a perfect “10” by scoring attorneys, but also was nominated as “Best Clerk” at the Oxnard Civic Arts Center.

Fillmore’s strong defense attorneys senior Manuel Gutierrez and juniors Jerry Tovar and Fatima Bazurto took control of the courtroom to spare the life of their defendant in round two against Villanova High School, and in round three against Pacifica High School. The Defense Team opened with a pre-trial motion to suppress the police’s tracking the defendant via the car’s GPS tracking system. Citing United States Supreme Court case law, senior Edgar Gonzalez argued that the defendant’s right to privacy are violated under the protections of the Fourth Amendment and that government tracking people privately is exactly what the fourth amendment should be protecting. Superior Court Judge Mindy Johnson (ret.) agreed with Mr. Gonzalez and believed that this kind of police tracking it too intrusive as held against the 4th amendment privacy protections. By winning the pre-trial motion, Mr. Gonzalez was able to set the stage for the defense to have the evidence of the police misconduct suppressed which contributed greatly to a not guilty verdict.

With a thoughtful and pragmatic opening statement, Manual Gutierrez set the scene of how there was inadequate evidence to convict the defendant. Mr. Gutierrez walked the jury through how it was not possible for the jury to be able to get over the prosecutorial burden of beyond a reasonable doubt and he garnered laughs when he invoked the game of Clue debating whether it was “Mrs. Peacock in the Observatory with the Candlestick.” Junior Fatima Bazurto received a nomination for her role as defense attorney. Now in her third year of mock trial, Ms. Bazurto is quick to think on her feet and her intelligent cross examinations of witnesses earned her high scores. Closer junior Jerry Tovar brought in solid scores and circled the wagons around the game of Clue referencing the old popular board game. He also cleverly reminded the scorers of the burden of proof and if there were reasonable interpretations of guilt and of innocence that the trier of fact must accept the interpretations that points to innocence. The jury was convinced and not guilty verdicts were received in both trials.

Senior Paulina Guerrero portrayed defense expert witness Dr. Tory Lee effectively eliminating any plausible explanation proffered by prosecution of the murder weapon. She earned a coveted score of “10.” Newcomer to the team and freshman Oliva Palazuelos won second place at the County for her role as the Tech Shop Owner. And strong scores from the scoring attorneys. Freshman Jorge Lizarraga played defense witness Fabian Moreno, a history teacher with a mysterious past. He earned a 9 for his strong, solid and believable performance. Newcomer senior Alina Herrera played the Defendant who was relieved for her 2 not guilty verdicts from her strong defense team. Collected and confident, Defendant Herrera received a nomination as “Best Defendant.” Sophomore Lilly Diaz as Bailiff scored 9s and a perfect 10 for her control of the courtroom and protecting the judge. Bailiff Diaz with a kind but firm manner made sure the trial was free from cell phones, talking and eating.

At the awards ceremony at the Oxnard Civic Center, the Fillmore team received two impressive “Best of” awards; 10 “best of” nominations; and over the two nights of competition earned four perfect “10” scores. The Prosecution team received one guilty verdict and the Defense team received two not guilty verdicts. The team ended the competition solidly. The students owe their success to long hours of research, preparation and practice, including lunch time, vacations, after school, and weekends.

At the team awards banquet the following awards were created, voted and given by the students: Best Attorney and Most Likely to Moderately Succeed: Mishell Beylik; Best Witness- Paulina Guerrero; Most Likely to be an Attorney: Isabella Palazuelos; Most Likely to End Up In Jail and Most Likely to Be Charged with Felony- Damian Meza; Most Spirited- Manuel Gutierrez; Most Likely to Get Away with Murder- George Mooradian.

The coaching staff consisted of school advisor, teacher and attorney Steven Geddes, attorney coach Laura Bartels of Taylor, Scoles and Bartels in Fillmore, attorney coach Gary Jacobs of Ventura; special coaches Jacqueline Tovar and Misael Ponce. Parents and teachers provided the students with invaluable advice and support, including law office staff Andrea Davis; Joi Searson and Grace Kline. Special thanks to La Fondita for helping with burritos; team parents: Mr. and Mrs. Mesa, Mr. and Mrs. Tovar, Szilvia Beylik; Principal Ito, Barbara Lemons, Fillmore Rotary Club, and patrons Val and Craig Sather.