Murrieta Valley Mock Trial to Compete in County's Elite 8 Round

Murrieta Valley High School will once again compete in the Elite Eight Round of the Riverside County Office of Education's Annual Mock Trial Competition.

The eight schools will advance to another round Wednesday at the Riverside Hall of Justice, after outperforming 15 other high schools from throughout the county. The Elite Eight pairings were announced Saturday after four rounds of competition, said Rick Peoples, spokesman for the Riverside County Office of Education.

Murrieta Valley will go head-to-head with Riverside Polytechnic High School on Wednesday. Chaparral High School of Temecula will go against Hemet High School. Indio High School will face Centennial High School Red, and Woodcrest Christian High School--last year's champion--will face Santiago High School.

Mock Trial began Feb. 9. According to Peoples, it involves students arguing cases in front of real judges and scored by real attorneys. The case this year is , a case involving an assault with a deadly weapon and cyberbullying.

The semi-finals will take place at 9 a.m. Saturday, followed by a championship round at 1 p.m. A final awards ceremony is at 3:30 p.m. at the Riverside Historic Courthouse. The winning team will compete March 25-27 at the California State Mock Trial Competition, to be held in Riverside.

This 29th Annual Mock Trial Competition is sponsored by the Riverside County Office of Education, Riverside County Bar Association and Riverside Superior Court.