On April 28^th and May 4^th, seventh and eighth grade students from Dwyer Middle School, Parks Junior High, Thurston Middle School, and Tuffree Middle School participated in CRF-OC’s Second Annual Middle School Moot Court program. The students, paired in teams, presented arguments based on a hypothetical set of facts and closed library of cases, regarding whether witness identifications should be allowed at trial using the identification reliability factors from Neil v. Biggers (1972). Several United States District Court magistrate judges as well as Orange County Superior Court judges volunteered to preside and question the students about their positions. 26 attorneys volunteered to score the performances and provide feedback and encouragement to the students. After two rounds of competition, a head-to-head final between the top prosecution and top defense teams took place. First place was awarded to Estella Newton and Zoe Tran from Thurston Middle School. Second place was awarded to Kevin Hur and Hannah Oh from Parks Junior High.  

CRF-OC hopes to hold the Middle School Moot Court program in-person at the United States District Court in Santa Ana next year with more schools. If you have a child in middle school in Orange County and would like for your child’s school to participate during the 2022-2023 school year, please have an interested teacher or school administrator contact CRF-OC’s Program Director Theresa Bernard at [email protected].