By ALEKHYA RAJASEKARAN
Staff Writer
The 2020-2021 California Mock Trial Case is officially released! El Diamante’s Mock Trial team was eagerly awaiting the new creative case created by the Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) that they would argue this year. Here is a brief rundown of the interesting case this year titled People v. Croddy, where Croddy is charged with aiding and abetting in the commission of first-degree burglary by another, and the accessory after the fact.
Lee Croddy, the defendant, is a youtuber for their channel called “The Right Side of News” where they discuss and expose topics that they believe the government is hiding from the public. Croddy especially enjoys discussing UFO’s and the government’s involvement, a passion that is shared by their many followers. One such follower is Remi Montoya, an avid fan of Croddy. Croddy likes to create group chats with their followers to increase engagement, and in one such group chat Remi is added in. In this group chat Croddy releases uncut footage and in one such raw video, you can see the address of California Official Drew Marshak while Croddy says to “take what’s ours”. However, when Croddy posts the video onto the official channel, everything is blurred out. Remi Montoya sees the group chat texts and decides to go to Marshaks house and demand Marshak give up important information about UFOs. Montoya breaks into the California Officials house, steals their briefcase, and punches Marshak in a brief altercation in the house. Montoya has pleaded guilty already.
Prosecution will argue that the youtuber, Croddy, aided Montoya in the burglary by encouraging Remi Montoya to break into the Officials house. Evidence also shows private texts between the two where Croddy specifically told Montoy to go to Marshak’s home to “get” documents. Prosecution also argues that Croddy let Montoya spend the night in Croddy’s house after the burglary knowing that Montoya had committed a crime.
Defense will argue that the youtuber was only building their fanbase and encouraging camaraderie to lead their movement. Defense will further argue that Croddy did not knowingly help the guilty fan steal government documents and that they did not even know the instance even happened until it was too late.
Mock Trial Season is finally a go this year, even with things being uncertain due to the virus. Tulare County has said that the competition must go on, even if it is through Zoom, which high schoolers all over the county are extremely grateful and excited for.