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Oregon High School Mock Trial Competition returns to Deschutes County Courthouse

KTVZ file

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Classroom Law Project is pleased to announce the 2023 High School Mock Trial Regional Competition. After two years of virtual competitions, this exciting, engaging program returns in-person this month.

With a fictional case involving student athletes, career-ending injuries from attacks, and allegedly corrupt college boosters, this year’s competition is sure to be exciting, program manager Amy Sabbadini said.

Students and teachers in Central Oregon will be competing at the Deschutes County Courthouse on Saturday, February 11 (details below).

You can contact Amy Sabbadini at asabbadini@classroomlaw.org or 541-788-8461 for more information about this and other civics education programs they support in Oregon.

Mock Trial is both a classroom strategy and an extracurricular competition that high school students have loved for decades.

Using a mock court case, students play the roles of attorneys, witnesses, and court officers while learning the lasting skills of public speaking, teamwork, research, collaboration, civil and criminal legal concepts, and civic engagement.

It is a way to bring the law alive for students and to give them a voice in what otherwise might seem a very distant judicial system. Classroom Law Project is honored to have coordinated the Oregon competition since 1987.

Three schools are competing in Central Oregon: Bend High School, Cascades Academy and Summit High School. The state competition is March 11-12 at the Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland.

Case Name: Maren Murguia v. Haden Hardy

Case Summary: A fictional case involving student athletes, career-ending injuries from attacks, and allegedly corrupt college boosters.

On Saturday July 9, 2022, shocking news broke in the collegiate track and field community. An alleged attack took place, leaving star middle distance runner, Maren Murguia seriously injured and any prospects of sponsorships, endorsement deals, and Olympic glory dashed. Murguia, the consensus leading runner in the 1500- & 3000-meter races was found with a smashed right knee, making a return to the sport, even with extensive rehab, impossible. Making the story all the more bizarre are both the alleged weapon, and assailant. Devin Lannister, a track star in their own right, and Murguia’s competition from Cascades State University, was arrested for the crime and pled guilty of attacking Murguia with a shotput only hours before the career-defining race of both student athletes. What at first glance seems to be a case of a bitter rivalry taken too far, has become something much more complicated. Though Lannister admitted to the police of perpetrating the attack on Murguia, Lannister claims

that they did not act under their own volition. Lannister claims that they were under the control and guidance of Cascades State University’s biggest and most influential sports booster, Haden Hardy. Hardy, a renowned supporter of all things CSU, has a checkered past when it comes to collegiate supports. A prominent university recruiter, and sports gambler, Hardy categorically denies any involvement in any alleged attack. Hardy, citing previous interactions with both Murguia and Lannister, suggests that the two former track stars are seeking to score a big pay day from Hardy’s deep pockets.

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