Students argue over DNA evidence at Ohio High School mock trial contest in Elyria Municipal Court

ELYRIA — The crime: Warehouse worker C.J. Jansen was found murdered in his apartment on May, 22, 2000, strangled by an unknown killer. Twenty-five years later, a cold case detective matched the killer's DNA to Morgan Remy, Jansen's former co-worker. The question: Was that DNA properly or improperly obtained from the private website GeneHeritage after it was uploaded by there by a third-party genetic relative of Remy and then matched through the relatively new process of investigative genetic genealogy, also known as IGG? Teams of students from Lake Ridge Academy in North Ridgeville, Perkins High School in Erie County, and Ashland High School faced that question and argued the merits of the case in the Ohio High School Regional Mock Trial competition Friday at Elyria Municipal Court. It was the 43rd annual competition, sponsored by the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization backed by the Ohio Supreme Court, Ohio attorney general, the Ohio State Bar Association and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation. In one afternoon session, two teams from Lake Ridge Academy squared off, arguing a mock defense motion to suppress the DNA evidence before a real jurist, Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Chris Cook. With local attorneys Erin Downs and Mike Wilson acting as scoring judges, the students argued their cases and put witnesses on the stand to back them up. "Any argument of IGG being unlawful can be ruled out," Prosecutor Eddie Kasl argued in his opening statement. He then questioned "Detective Ronan Saleh," portrayed by Rahil Patel, on the witness stand. Not so, defense attorney Ava White argued in her opening. "Consent was not given," she said. "It was taken." Spreading her client's DNA without their consent "would be a violation," White argued. Openings, closings and witnesses were timed. Attorneys raised objections to testimony, exhibits and evidence that Cook ruled on from the bench. Each team competed in two trials and had to win both, or the majority of their judges' ballots, to advance to the state competition March 12-15 in Columbus. The winner of Friday's competition was not named in time for The Chronicle-Telegram's print deadline. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.