(UPDATE Feb. 15, 2016):  Fresno State’s Mock Trial A Team advances to AMTA’s Opening Round Championship Site (ORCS) March 12-13 in Santa Monica.  See: bit.ly/FSN-MockTrialToOCRS

Following a successful fall semester that earned the Fresno State mock trial program a national ranking, the young Bulldogs team is preparing to host the Northern California Regional Tournament Feb. 13 to 14 in the Kremen Education building on campus.

The tournament – free and open to the public  from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. — serves as a qualifier for the National Finals April 14 to 19 in South Carolina. (Awards will be presented at approximately 6:30 p.m. both days in the Concert Hall in the Music Building.)

This weekend, two Fresno State squads will be among teams from 16 universities in California, Texas and Oregon. They will try a criminal case in which an casino owner allegedly tried to bribe a state gaming commission official to gain influence with the commission’s vote to approve a license for a new casino.

More than 50 judges have been lined up for the event, said Christopher Irwin, Fresno County deputy district attorney and the tournament judge coordinator.

“The American Mock Trial Association ranked our 2015 regional last year as one of the top five in the country and honored us by asking if we would host the 2016 Northern California Regional Tournament again,” said Gordon M. Park, head coach and partner at McCormick Barstow LLP.

Both Irwin and Park are adjunct faculty for Fresno State’s Department of Criminology.

The Fresno State mock trial program recruited 26 new members in the fall, including 18 freshmen.

Three freshmen took home individual awards at the Dog Pound Challenge Tournament hosted on campus in October with teams from Stanford, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and UC Santa Barbara.

Other standout performances in the fall included a first-place win at the University of Arizona’s Gunslinger Invitational after the team — comprised of seven newcomers — went undefeated. Fresno State also finished in the top 10 at the Yale University Tournament competing against 51 other nationally-ranked programs.

On Jan. 23 to 24, the two Bulldogs’ teams split up with one placing second at the University of California, Berkeley Invitational and the other competing in the Rebel-Trojan All-In Mock Trial Tournament in Las Vegas, where it tied for third while winning two individual awards.

The Fresno State mock trial program began competing in 2005 as an organization that promotes the ideals of law and the judicial system through participation in intercollegiate competition. Students who participate in the program can also earn credit for a three-unit criminology course.

NOTE: While this weekend’s tournament is free and open to the public,  visitors should not wear school colors/logos or bring anything that discloses the team they support, Irwin said.

For more information about the regional tournament and the mock trial program, contact Park at 559.433.1300 or gordon.park@mccormickbarstow.com or Irwin at cirwin@gmail.com.

(Copy by Erika Denise Castañon, University Communications news assistant.)

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