Students Debate ‘Three Strikes’ in Moot Court Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 6, 2002
Joe Wills
530-898-4143
Students Debate ‘Three Strikes’ in Moot Court Competition
California’s three-strikes law gets a thorough examination this week as California State University, Chico students debate its merits in the annual moot court competition.
Thirty-two teams of students begin arguments before judges today, May 6, in classroom “courts” in Butte Hall. The tournament-style competition ends Friday, May 10, when the final two teams oppose each other in the Chico City Council Chambers at 5 p.m. Friday’s finals are free and open to the public.
Forty-eight area attorneys, jurists and other experts in the legal field will be volunteering as judges during the competition.
The students’ efforts will mirror arguments to be made before the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear a case challenging California’s 1994 three-strikes law.
Leandro Andrade was convicted of stealing videotapes in 1995 from two Southern California Kmart stores. Because of previous burglary convictions, he was eligible for extra punishment under the three-strikes law and received a sentence of 50 years to life. State court upheld the sentence, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the sentence was unconstitutional.
Moot court is an extremely valuable practice for pre-law students, said political science professor Dane Cameron, moot court adviser. Competitions are common in law school, and CSU, Chico students have done very well at that level. Approximately 85 percent of CSU, Chico moot court participants are accepted into the law school of their choice, Cameron said.
Two CSU, Chico political science students, Brooke Benjamin and Dalal Dweik, competed in a national moot court competition in January, Cameron said. He is on the board of the National Intercollegiate Moot Court Competition.
Along with awards for the moot court finalists, the team that writes the best appellate brief will also receive an award this year, Cameron said.
Cameron said most of the competing students are enrolled in his spring “Simulation: Public Law” class. However, he said moot court is an open competition, and four teams have entered who are not in the class.
To enhance future moot court competitions, the College of Behavioral and Social Science recently agreed to purchase two new cameras and a new TV monitor for its simulated courtroom, Butte Hall room 709.
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