St. Vincent students learn how legal system really works

Legal drama isn’t confined to the courtroom or television reruns for students at St. Vincent de Paul High School. For members of Kenneth Blake’s mock trial class, the classroom is both a learning experience and a competition.

His students will represent Sonoma County in the California State Mock Trial competition March 17-19. This year’s completion will be via Zoom.

In ordinary times, St. Vincent would have competed in county events to reach state, but these are not ordinary times. Most county schools did not have teams this year and St. Vincent was chosen to represent Sonoma County with only a few “scrimmages.”

Blake said the class is about much more than learning about trials and courtroom procedures.

“It helps students acquire skills like public speaker, critical thanking and writing they can use in all their academics,” he said.

Only a handful of the 18 students in the class are considering law as a career, but almost all agree with their teacher that the class is giving them skills they can use as they move forward in their education and future careers.

Ava Sullivan said the class brought to the students a dose of reality.

“I thought about law, but I don’t think I’m bossy enough to be a lawyer,” she said. “The class showed us the real thing rather than what pre-conceived ideas we might have.”

Sullivan was one of two St. Vincent mock trial class students to receive scholarships to UCLA courtesy of Petaluma businessman Michael Gonzalez.

The other scholarship recipient is Emilly Isetta. “I’m super excited to be going to state,” she said. “Before taking the class I never thought about being a lawyer. After taking the class, I realized, “Why not?’”

“It is unfortunate we have to do it virtually,” said Mario Aldana. “A few of us have been to mock trial camps and know what it is like to be in competition.”

At the 2022 California Mock Trial Finals, St. Vincent will compete against 35 other county teams in arguing the case of the “People v. Cobey, the trial of Jamie Cobey, a horticulturist living in the community of Burnsley, California, a semi-rural town in the high desert. Cobey is charged with killing Cobey’s landlord and next-door neighbor, Erik Smith. The prosecution will argue that Cobey should be convicted of first-degree murder or the lesser-included offense of voluntary manslaughter. The pretrial issue centers on the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

St. Vincent’s team will include student attorneys and specially prepared witnesses. All are important, Blake said.

“The witnesses are just as important as the attorneys,” he said. “Everyone has to do their part.”

The teacher said the competition will be a learning experience for St. Vincent’s young team.

“This is a great group of kids, but we are very young,” he explained. “We have mostly freshman and sophomores. Our program is just getting started.”

St. Vincent will have the advantage of being prepped by Blake, who knows first-hand about trials and the legal system after working seven years as a special victims prosecutor in Brooklyn.

When he left Brooklyn to come west he didn’t necessarily intend to become a teacher, but when St. Vincent Principal Pat Daly made him an offer to work within a five-minute commute of his Petaluma home, he accepted the opportunity and has not regretted the decision.

“I’m loving it,” he said. “These are great kids. In addition to mock trial, Blake teaches debate, psychology and speech.

He has high hopes for the future of the mock trial program. Noting the success and attention the St. Vincent football brought to the school by reaching the CIF Northern California championship game, Blake said, “We want our program to be the intellectual equivalent of our football program. We want to be known for our mock trial program as well as for our football program.”