(March 4, 2009 - Oklahoma City) Christian Heritage Academy defeated Ada High School in the final round of competition to claim the Oklahoma High School Mock Trial Championship. Christian Heritage Academy in Del City will represent Oklahoma in the national competition, to be held in Atlanta in May.

“This is Christian Heritage Academy’s third time to win the state mock trial championship and were last year’s defending champions,” said Oklahoma Bar Association President Jon K. Parsley of Guymon. “Its team members were very polished in the arguments they presented and demonstrated excellent reasoning skills. I’m sure they will do an excellent job representing Oklahoma in the national championship.”

The competition was held Tuesday evening in the Bell Courtroom at the OU Law Center in Norman. The two teams argued a homicide case in which the defendant was accused of providing meth to a friend, who was found dead after a fire thought to have been started by a meth lab located in a cabin on a remote lake in Oklahoma.

The annual competition is sponsored by the Oklahoma Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and the Oklahoma Bar Foundation. Teams are paired with volunteer attorney coaches. 

The judges evaluated the students based on their familiarity of the case and the formulation of their arguments. Students received points for each phase of the trial, opening, direct and cross examination, closing argument and how well their witnesses responded.

This year’s winners of the best attorney awards were Ryan Morrisett of Del City and Brock Mann of Ada. Taylor Palmer of Del City and Lance Keenan of Ada were chosen as the top witnesses.

This year’s winning mock trial team was coached by teacher Jerrid Eischen and its attorney coach was Jennifer Miller. Returning for a fourth year on the team is Joe Crow. Second-year team members are Patrick Burroughs, Addi Ellis, Jared Miller, Ryan Morrisett and Taylor Palmer. New to the team are Katie Ceyler, Andy Habib, Lindsey Littlejim and Jonathan Wong.  The academy had two teams in the competition.

“The students recognize how blessed they are to win against an elite program like Ada, who always has talented students and coaches.  The team's hard work along with Mrs. Miller's contributions over the last two years have been vital to our success which has also bolstered the students’ confidence,” Eischen said. “Their excitement for the opportunity to improve on their final placement from nationals last year can't be overstated.  We are already making plans to begin working toward nationals and want to represent Oklahoma in the appropriate manner.”

Out of the 45 teams that began competing in January, the top finishers are, in third place, Ada High School (white team); fourth, Broken Arrow High School; fifth, Atoka High School; sixth, Catoosa High School; seventh, Clinton High School; and eighth, Okarche High School.  More than 800 students participated in the state mock trial program.

Judge Edward Cunningham served as presiding judge during the contest finals. Scoring judges were Judge Daman Cantrell, Judge Kenneth Dickerson, Judge David B. Lewis, Judge Millie Otey and Judge Dana L. Rasure.

More than 400 judges and attorneys volunteered their time to work with mock trial teams as coaches and to conduct the competitions. Jennifer Bruner, an Oklahoma City attorney with Mason & Olson, chaired the Young Lawyers Division Mock Trial Committee.