CHAPEL HILL - The final round of a new national mock trial tournament scheduled for the Chapel Hill District Courthouse today will end well before sundown Friday.

That way Jewish people who observe the Sabbath, a day of rest from dusk Friday to sundown Saturday, can participate -- something the country's biggest mock trial organization voted against doing last October.

Controversy struck the National High School Mock Trial Championship last year when an Orthodox Jewish team from New Jersey's Torah Academy became its state's champions.

The team couldn't participate in the championship in Charlotte the way it was scheduled because some of the rounds were on a Saturday. So North Carolina's organizers recruited volunteer teams to spar with Torah Academy starting a day early, enabling the school to get its qualifying rounds in before sundown Friday.

But in a vote after the championship, the national board vetoed future scheduling accommodations. New Jersey and North Carolina dropped out of the competition and started their own, which debuted Tuesday at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Nine teams from high schools as far away as California, Washington state and South Korea participated. Teams from East Chapel Hill High School and J.H. Rose High School in Greenville also competed.

Prejudice denied

Teams argued the fictional case of Jamie Anderson, who was accused of beating up Daniel El-Hassani, a French-Muslim foreign exchange student. Though no one saw Anderson hurt El-Hassani, circumstances pointed to Anderson, whose father died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at the World Trade Center.

Just as the student playing Anderson denies being prejudiced in the fake trial, so do organizers of the National High School Mock Trial Championship. Their vote last year was based on logistics, said John Wheeler, the group's chairman.

Traditionally the rounds take place in actual courtrooms, he said. The only way to avoid a Saturday would be to hold the tournament on weekdays -- when the rooms are needed for real trials and students would have to miss school to compete.

Though changing that might have benefitted some schools, others might have dropped out.

"As much as we would love to have found a solution that was workable to everyone, ultimately we found a solution that was workable for almost everyone," Wheeler said.

North Carolina organizers disagree. Fayetteville lawyer Rebecca Britton resigned from the national mock trial championship board last year. She supported the accommodation last year and said the national group could still have proceeded with its normal schedule just as long as it agreed to rearrange it if needed.

Some trials might not have ended up being held in actual courtrooms, but other values, such as inclusion and equality, also are important, she said.

"No student should have to choose between a competition and religion," Britton said.

Last weekend, 44 schools participated in the national championship in Oklahoma City. A team from Valley High School in Iowa won.

The final round for the American Mock Trial Invitational in Chapel Hill this week is scheduled for 1:40 p.m. today at the Orange County District Courthouse on Franklin Street. Retired Superior Court Judge Wade Barber will preside.

"I'm hoping that they're having a great time in Chapel Hill," Wheeler said.

This year, no Orthodox Jewish teams signed up for either the championship or the invitational.