Centennial High School Named Mock Trial Champs

Eleven high school teams argued the fictitious case of People v. Cobey during the 2022 Kern County Mock Trial finals held on January 29 in Bakersfield’s Kern County Superior Courts of California. In the end, Centennial High School claimed victory and will go on to represent Kern County in the California Mock Trial in March.

Rounding out the top 5 teams were:
Second — Garces Memorial
Third — Highland
Fourth — South
Fifth — Ridgeview

The top two students from each team who consistently performed the best throughout the course of the two-month competition were named to the Honor Court. They were:

BHS / Kelby Meriweather and Michael Hernandez
Centennial / Daniela Dibble and Garrett Redstone
Delano / Ilhia Garcia and Cristian Cerda
East / Nyssa Combs and Noah Straub
Garces Memorial / Layla Lujan and Jean Pierre Etcheverry
Highland / Bella McKinney and Manuel Gonzales
Liberty / Amrit Tung and Harsh Govindji
Ridgeview / Leia Kopp and Amenda Nguyen
RFK / Yareli Hernandez and Kevin Diaz
South / Valeria Garcia and Sky Nava
West / Amy Haddad and Adamariz Escobedo

Competing high schools reversed defense and prosecution roles each round and provided witnesses and courtroom officials in the fictitious case of People v. Cobey. People v. Cobey is the trial of Jamie Cobey, a horticulturist living in the community of Burnsley, California, a semi-rural town in the high desert. Cobey is charged with the homicide of Cobey’s landlord and next-door neighbor, Erik Smith. The prosecution argued that Cobey should be convicted of first-degree murder or the lesser-included offense of voluntary manslaughter.

Kern County Mock Trial is funded with a grant from the Harry and Ethel West Foundation and is sponsored by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Kern County Bar Association, Kern County Superior Courts of California, Kern County Sheriff’s Department and Sheriff’s Reserves.