BY DEAN MAYORGA
Hemet High School earned its first championship Saturday in the 32nd annual Riverside County Mock Trial Competition. By defeating Riverside’s Martin Luther King High School, Hemet advances to the state competition, March 20 to 22 in Riverside. The final round for the county title took place at 1 p.m. at the Riverside County Historic Courthouse, where students argued over the fictional case of “People v. Shem.” The case dealt with an artist and his talented pupil who was facing theft by larceny charges for stealing one of his mentor’s works. Hemet served on the side of prosecution and King acted as the defense. About 3:15 p.m., the verdict was dealt and the winners were announced. Sydney Yerger, 18, a senior at Hemet High, said after the ruling that this was her first time in the competition and that she was excited with the outcome. “I’m glad that I’m a part of it and could experience this,” Yerger said. When asked about the upcoming state competition, she said, “Even if we don’t win, I know that we’re really glad to have made it this far.” Her coach, James Walsh, shared a similar sentiment. “We’re excited about that (state competition) but we’ll probably think about that on Monday,” he said. “Right now it’s the celebration.” Andrew Gonzalez, 17, a senior at King, said that despite the loss he did gain from the experience in the competition. “It is really heartbreaking,” said Gonzalez. “But what I take from my senior year is just how happy I am that I had a great team inside and I could really rely on them.” What distinguishes this year’s competition from recent years is that four-time consecutive champion Riverside Poly High School didn’t make it to the finals. Poly lost to King in the semifinals earlier in the morning. “It was a very close competition this morning, just like last year’s championship was very close,” said John Wahlin, steering committee chairman for the Riverside County mock trial and competition. This year, the mock trials had a slightly larger group of participants than in 2014: more than 550 students from 27 schools, up by 10 students and one school. Competitors act as personnel of the court, fulfilling the roles of counsel, witnesses, deputies and court clerks before actual federal and state judicial officers who judge and score the event. One of the judges this year was Michael Hestrin, district attorney for Riverside County. “I commented that some of the skill level, they seemed ready for a legal career already and they’re in high school,” said Hestrin about the students. The 32nd mock trials were co-sponsored by the Riverside County Office of Education, Riverside County Bar Association and the Riverside County Superior Court.