The California Mock Trial’s case for the 2017-2018 year is “People vs. Davidson,” one of the first murder cases given to students in years. The case includes a relevant political twist, mirroring the political climate today.

The case follows a conservative, leader of fictional group Our America, and a liberal, leader of fictional group Equality For All, who verbally spar at rallies. The liberal leader, Casey Davidson, is accused of murdering the conservative leader, Alex Thompson, after an altercation at a political rally. The rally where Thompson was murdered mirrors the rally that took place Sept. 24 in protest of speaker Milo Yiannopoulos at UC Berkeley.

This year’s officers are senior Stacey Chen as president, junior Ashley Feng and senior Katherine Zhou as lead attorneys, senior Michelle Vu as lead witness and junior Hugo Huang as secretary/treasurer.

An informational meeting was held on Oct. 10. The club members were broken into prosecution and defense teams after auditions, which were held on Oct. 17.