A team of Mercer Island High School students took third place in the 24th annual YMCA South King County Mock Trial Competition, co-sponsored by the King County Superior Court. Several students were also nominated for Best Attorney and Best Witness at the competition.

“The focus, skill and preparation necessary for this competition was incredible,” said Mercer Island School District Superintendent Dr. Gary Plano. “I am proud of the determination and effort put forth by our students over the course of the two-week competition.”

Best attorney nominees were Sumedhaa-Priya Kothari and Brian Wen, and best witness nominees were Ailin Fu, Michael Lee, Jonah Tang and Bita Arabian.

Nineteen high school teams competed over two weeks. Each team had to manage the prosecution and defense in a fictitious criminal case, presided over by real judges. The High School Mock Trials are a program of YMCA Youth & Government. Besides the YMCA, the program receives support from various lawyers and judges associations and is also dependent on hundreds of volunteer hours. The trials were presided over and judged by King County Superior Court Judges Beth Andrus, Tim Bradshaw, William Downing, Helen Halpert, Bruce Heller, Dean Lum, Sean O’Donnell, Patrick Oishi, Sue Parisien, Kim Prochnau, Judy Ramseyer, Ken Schubert, Catherine Shaffer and retired Superior Court Judges Donald Haley, Phil Hubbard, Doug McBroom and Tony Wartnik, King County District Court Judge Anne Harper, Seattle Municipal Court Judge Steve Rosen and Administrative Law Judge Nicole Gaines.