It was the third year in a row Owasso High School was guaranteed the win as the RDEX team competed against the Rutherford Team in the Oklahoma High School Mock Trial Championship in Norman. Team Rutherford emerged as the winner.

The mock trial program, now in its 40^th year, involves teams of students portraying attorneys and defendants in a courtroom setting with judges and attorneys evaluating their performance. This year’s mock trial case focused on a criminal prosecution brought by the state of Oklahoma against a mother who is charged with negligent homicide arising out of the death of her unborn son following a motor vehicle accident.

“We are proud of all of the students who participated in the mock trial competition and worked so hard.  Students on both teams did an excellent job in what was a close competition,” said Oklahoma Bar Association President Susan Shields of Oklahoma City. “Team Rutherford will be an impressive representative for Oklahoma at the national competition in May in Evansville, Indiana.”

Earning awards as best attorneys were Morgan Meyer and Aubrey Broughton with Kennedy Patterson and Jesse Anderson winning best witness honors.

Other top finishers are third place, McAlester Black; fourth, Clinton Gold; fifth, Broken Arrow Team Black; sixth, Ada Varsity Team; seventh, McAlester Gold; and eighth, Stillwater Advanced Team.

Niko Lam, a junior at Clinton High School, won best courtroom artist.

Judge David Lewis served as presiding judge during the competition finals held in the Bell Courtroom at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Scoring judges were Judge Shon Erwin, Judge Patrick Wyrick, Judge Charles Goodwin and Retired Judge Glenn Adams.

The Oklahoma High School Mock Trial Program is sponsored and funded by the Oklahoma Bar Foundation and the Oklahoma Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. Nearly 400 judges and attorneys volunteered their time to work with mock trial teams as coaches and to conduct the competitions.

The Oklahoma Bar Foundation, through its grants and awards program, allocates funds to nonprofit agencies and programs like mock trial. The mission of the foundation is to ensure justice is possible for all Oklahomans through the promotion of law, education and access to justice. The 18,000-member Oklahoma Bar Association, headquartered in Oklahoma City, was created by the Oklahoma Supreme Court to advance the administration of justice and to foster and maintain learning, integrity, competence, public service and high standards of conduct among Oklahoma’s legal community.