January 6th, 2026 by WCBC Radio

The 2026 mock trial season gets underway next week with six local high schools competing.  Last year’s state champion, Bishop Walsh, will be competing against Allegany, Fort Hill, Mountain Ridge, Northern, and Southern.  BW Coach Tony Orndoff tells WCBC News that this year’s fictional case involves a lawsuit filed against a privately owned prison. “A for profit prison…there was a prisoner who was there as a young person who ended up in and out of solitary confinement and had a lot of negative health consequences and ultimately, in the case, took his own life.”

Coach Orndoff added that the parents of the deceased are now suing the prison because of their child’s death. “The parent is suing the prison on his behalf for damages as a result of what they’re alleging to be the prison’s behavior that led to his life being destroyed.”