Contact:  Ed "Flash" Ferenc, Public Information Officer
              Cleveland Municipal Court                   
              216-664-6787   216-857-7420
              ference@cmcoh.org

(Cleveland, Ohio) -- John Hay High School was the big winner at the Cleveland Municipal Court’s 17th Annual Mock Trial Competition Friday, May 3rd at the Justice Center.   The school, one of nine in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District that competed, sent “Team Stokes” and “Team Tubbs Jones.”  

“Stokes” took top honors and “Tubbs Jones” came in second.  “Team D” from School of the Arts finished third.

“Every year I am just gratified by what I see and hear.  The kids have taken it to the next level,” said Judge Lauren C. Moore, who chairs the Mock Trial Program and also wrote the case, which involved a high school teacher charged with shooting a student, who was threatening to shoot another student who had been bullying him.

“Every day there’s more stories about the second amendment, guns in schools, guns in the hands of kids and the controversy over whether teachers should be armed.  It’s what’s happening in our world.  Hopefully with this program, the students will develop a greater capacity to deal with these issues,” added Judge Moore.

The students are judged on their advocacy skills and ability to think on their feet and not the outcome of the case.  There was also an essay competition, which generated eight entries and Detavious Smith of New Tech @East Tech was selected as the winner.

The Mock Trial Program is sponsored by the Cleveland Municipal Court and the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association Foundation.

Lester Fultz, Chief of Safety and Security for the CMSD spoke to the students at the awards ceremony about gun safety.

2013 Mock Trial Winners: John Hay High School

Click  here to view more pictures from the 2013 Mock Trial Competition