On Friday, January 17, 2025, the Toledo Bar Association (TBA) welcomed students from high schools in northwest Ohio to Toledo Municipal Court for the 42nd Annual Ohio High School Mock Trial District Competition.

This past fall, students across Ohio received an original case written around a current constitutional issue important to the students. The 2025 Ohio Mock Trial Case, Denver Saidi v. Wyatt Latu. Denver Saidi, principal of Trillium High School and candidate for city council, becomes concerned when a deepfake video featuring their speech at the Snow Ball Dance begins circulating online and damages their campaign. Saidi has filed a lawsuit for defamation against Trillium student Wyatt Latu, who used a generative AI app to create the video, and simultaneously seeks a preliminary injunction from the court to have the offending video taken down. Students in this year’s case will participate in the hearing in which the court is considering that injunction. Each Ohio Mock Trial team consists of five to twelve students who assume the roles of attorneys and witnesses to present both sides of an original, unscripted case based on an important constitutional issue.

At the district competition, the teams competed in two trials against opposing teams. Teams must win both trials, or the majority of their judges’ ballots, to advance to regionals. Students from Eastwood High School (1), Perrysburg High School (1), Sylvania Southview High School (3), St. Francis de Sales School (1), and St. Ursula Academy (1) ​​​​​​argued both sides of the case in front of volunteer panelists. Five teams from Eastwood High School, Perrysburg High School, Sylvania Southview High School, and St. Ursula Academy advanced from the district competition and will compete in the regional competition on February 7. 

The TBA thanks its volunteer attorneys that served as judicial panelists during the competition, the staff at Ohio Center for Law-Related Education as well as Toledo Municipal Court judges and staff for allowing area high school students to utilize courtrooms on the third floor to provide an authentic experience for the students to compete and perform in a courtroom. The TBA congratulates all students on their participation of this year's Ohio High School Mock Trial District Competition. 

Eastwood High School Mock Trial Team		Perrysburg High School Mock Trial Team
Sylvania Southview Mock Trial Teams		St. Ursula Academy Mock Trial Team
TBA members, Hon. James Bates and Sol Zyndorf, Esq. volunteer as judicial panelists.		TBA members, Nick Bartlett, Esq., Marty Goff, Esq., and Isabel Remer, Esq. volunteer as judicial panelists.
TBA members, Peggy Mattimore Sturgeon, Esq., Mag. Nancy Miller, and Tammy Lavalette, Esq. volunteer as judicial panelists.		TBA members, Hannah Twinning, Esq., James Burkhardt, Esq., and Gordon Barry, Esq. volunteer as judicial panelists.