(March 6, 2019) Owasso High School was guaranteed the win last night as its Team Quadstone competed against Team Heisenberg in the Oklahoma High School Mock Trial Championship in Tulsa. Team Quadstone emerged as the winner. Last year was the first time in program history two teams from the same school faced off in the final round, and both were Owasso teams.
The mock trial program, now in its 39th year, involves teams of students portraying attorneys and defendants in a courtroom setting with judges and attorneys evaluating their performance. This year’s case focused on a civil case in which a student is accused of intentionally inflicting emotional distress from bullying and harassment that lead to the death of another student.
“Students on both teams did an excellent job in what was a close competition,” said Oklahoma Bar Association President Charles Chesnut of Miami. “Team Quadstone will be an impressive representative for Oklahoma at the national competition in May in Athens, Georgia.”
Earning awards as best attorneys were Maggie Murphy and Katy Turner with Ciara Locker and Emily Carr winning best witness honors.
Other top finishers are third place Bishop Kelley Team Red; fourth, Jenks Team Leopold; fifth, McAlester Team Black; sixth, Moore Team 2; seventh, Jenks Team Loeb; and eighth, Clinton Gold. A total of 42 teams participated in the program.
Retired Judge Edward Cunningham served as presiding judge during the competition finals held at the Page Belcher Federal Building in Tulsa. Scoring judges were Judge Shon Erwin, Judge Dana Rasure, Judge Paul Cleary, Judge Jane Wiseman and Judge Jodi Jayne.
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.