Sierra High School Students were able play all roles for the mock trail.

Written by Kimberly McMullen
On January 24, 2017, Fillmore’s Sierra High School attended a field trip to the Hall of Justice at the Ventura Government Center. The Street Law class, which is an introductory law course, toured several courtrooms. The class witnessed the traffic calendar which included interaction between the Judge, Deputy District Attorney, and the Public Defender. Additionally, the class sat-in on a Felony Criminal Trial and was able to observe testimony from an expert witness on direct and cross-examination before a jury. Further, the class was given the opportunity to conduct their own mock trial in a Superior Court courtroom. The case involved the trial of a defendant who was being prosecuted for burglary. The students played all of the roles in the trial. Class members played the following roles: the judge was Luis Salgado, Sarai Vargas was the district attorney, Brandon Nava was the defense attorney, Aaron Cerda was the defendant, and witnesses were played by Gianfranco Malagon, David Estrella, Shanya Escoto, and Daniel Mynatt. The bailiff was Samuel Cabrera, and Emmanuel Roldan was the judicial assistant. The rest of the class served as jurors. The courtroom served as an interactive classroom as students were able to apply their learned skills in a real setting.

This field trip was made possible by VC Innovates, which is a Ventura County collaborative endeavor that brings educators and community partners together to apply innovative experiences to the education experience and help students prepare for college and careers. Additionally, docents from the Ventura County Bar Association assisted in the success of the field trip by serving as guides to the various courtrooms. Besides providing field trips, VC Innovates, schedules inspirational speakers from law-related careers to give presentations at Sierra.

The Street Law class is part of the Legal Services career pathway of VC Innovates and Sierra High School is one of several schools in the county participating in the Legal Services pathway. The course Street Law is based on a curriculum created by Georgetown University Law Center. Students are studying Criminal Law and Procedure, Torts, Contracts, Constitutional Law, Family Law and Consumer Law. Course instructor William Chavez and school counselor Kimberly McMullen accompanied the class on the field trip.