The Idaho Law Foundation’s Law Related Education Program hosted its annual High School Mock Trial State Championship from Tuesday to Thursday, March 11 to 13. This year, students explored a criminal case that centered on the defendant, Jesse James O’Malley, intentionally aiding and abetting murder in the first degree by encouraging Mistic Garcia to kill and murder Declan O’Malley.

For 2025, 252 high school students from 41 teams registered to participate in the mock trial competition. 128 teachers, judges, attorneys, and other community leaders donated their time to serve as coaches, advisors, judges, and competition staff.

This year, 16 teams advanced to state, from regional competitions held in Coeur d’Alene and Boise. These teams participated in four rounds of competition on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Ada County Courthouse with the top two teams facing off for the state championship at the Idaho Supreme Court on Thursday morning. The following schools participated in Idaho’s state tournament:

The following teams placed in the top five for Idaho’s state tournament:

2025 State Champion: The Ambrose School (A Team)

State Runner Up: The Logos School (B Team)

Third Place: Mountain Home High School (A Team)

Fourth Place: The Logos School (A Team)

Fifth Place: The Ambrose School (B Team)

Mock trial team members who played roles as attorneys and witnesses had the opportunity to be recognized for individual awards. For each trial through four rounds of competition, each judge had the opportunity to select the students they believed gave the best performances for the trial. The top witnesses and attorneys for the 2025 competition include:

As part of the state competition, Idaho’s Mock Trial Program, in partnership with the Professionalism & Ethics Section, developed the Civility & Ethics Award, created to highlight the importance of civility and professionalism among teams participating in mock trial. During the state competitions teams observe and interact with each other and submit their nomination for the award. For 2025 Greenleaf Friends Academy was chosen by the other teams as the recipient of this year’s award.

Idaho’s mock trial program also hosts a Courtroom Artist Contest as part of the program. In 2025, 11 courtroom artists participated in the contest. Artists observed trials and submitted sketches that depict courtroom scenes. The top three entries for 2025 were:

First Place: Emma Meyers, Renaissance High School

Second Place: Charlie Hamblack, Boise High School

Third Place: Sylvia Olvalle, Greenleaf Friends Academy

This year, for the first time, we hosted a Courtroom Journalist Contest as part of the program. In 2025, 3 courtroom journalists participated in the contest. Journalists observed trials from the perspective of a news reporter. They wrote articles reporting on their observations during the second round. The top three entries for 2025 were:

First Place: Nora Lafferty, Timberline High School

Second Place (Tie): Taylor Jackson, Timberline High School

Second Place (Tie): Grayson Williams, Boise High School

The winning entry is printed at the end of this column.

The Ambrose School will represent Idaho at the National High School Mock Trial Championship in May in Phoenix, Arizona. Emma Meyers will represent Idaho in the National Courtroom Artist Contest while Nora Lafferty will represent Idaho in the National Courtroom Journalist Contest. 

The Idaho Law Foundation’s Law Related Education Program would like to thank the sponsors and volunteers who helped during the 2025 mock trial season. We couldn’t do our important work without your support.

Plans will soon begin for the 2026 mock trial season. For more information about how to get involved with the mock trial program, visit idahomocktrial.org or contact Carey Shoufler, Idaho Law Foundation Law Related Education Director, at cshoufler@isb.idaho.gov.

Read the winning Courtroom Journalist entry from Nora, Lafferty, Timberline High School.

State of Idaho v. Jessie James O’Malley Case Awaits Jury Verdict

Boise, ID – March 12, 2025

Burley Resident Jessie James O’Malley awaits a verdict for crimes committed nearly 8 years ago. In a Cassia County trial held this afternoon, Jessie O’Malley is being prosecuted by the State of Idaho on account of aiding and abetting in the murder of Declan O’Malley in the first degree.

Jessie O’Malley, the defendant, is a practicing attorney in Burley, Idaho. He graduated from Yale Law School and had moved from Connecticut back to Idaho where he had grown up. The reason for this moving back would be because of student debt, and Burley seemed the best place to return, as his family had lived there as well. There he lived on the O’Malley farm, along with siblings Declan, Tully, and his mother Maeve O’Malley. Not long after he had moved in, Maeve O’Malley had unfortunately passed away. With her passing, in her wake was left the $12 million dollar estate of the O’Malleys. With this sum of money, Maeve had originally planned for the executor of the estate to be in Jessie’s name. However, Declan O’Malley felt differently. Before Maeve had passed, she changed the executor to Declan. Tully O’Malley, sister of both Declan and Jessie, testified that “Declan wanted to keep the farm but Jess wanted to sell it. Jess needed the money.” With this, the dispute between the two began. Jessie had testified, “We would not speak without an attorney present regarding the estate.”

The night of November 25, 2017, Jessie and Declan had agreed to try and settle the issue of the estate. However, this issue would not be settled because Declan O’Malley was found dead the next morning. Declan had been found with a gun wound in his left shoulder, and what ultimately killed him was a broken neck, as he had fallen out of his two-story window. Unfortunately, at the time the case was opened, there was no evidence linking a culprit to the scene, and it was declared cold in 2021. However, the case was reopened in 2023, after Jessie’s former coworker Mystic Garcia pled guilty to the murder of Declan O’Malley after being offered a plea deal. She confessed to shooting and eventually pushing Declan out of his window and ultimately causing his death. Although with Mystic’s confession to the crime, there was still no evidence linking Jessie to the scene, as stated by Samir Slade, a former detective who was the first officer to arrive on the scene of Declan’s death.

However, Rowan McGee, reporter and close friend of Declan, received information that linked Jessie to the case, and then submitted it to the Burley Police Department, where they began the investigation of Jessie O’Malley. Detective Francis Magumbo, who was assigned this reopened case, received Rowan’s tip, depicting bitcoin transactions from an art company named “Le Finest Works D’Art” to Mystic Garcia, in payments of $12,500 incrementally over several months. These payments would eventually add up to $150,000 dollars. Garcia testified that “Jessie would deposit money into my bank account from the bitcoin transactions.” Jessie had been linked to these transactions because of his name on the receipts from the art brokerage. Garcia, along with the transactions, stated that Jessie paid her that $150,000 to kill Declan. “I needed it. I thought of my daughter and I just took it.”

With testimonies from witnesses, the jury still has yet to decide whether to declare Jessie O’Malley guilty or not guilty. As tension rose between the State and Defense, Prosecution argues that O’Malley without a doubt aided and abetted in the murder of Declan O’Malley because he may have wanted the estate money to pay off his debt. Defense argues that O’Malley did not aid and abet in the murder of Declan O’Malley, and it was simply a matter of family disputes; stated by the defense, “Family quarrels do not mean death”, and the betrayal of his coworker, Mystic Garcia. Reports will continue as the jury discusses.

For 30 years, Carey A. Shoufler has worked in education and communication in an array of settings. In her current role, Carey has spent the last 17 years working as the Law Related Education Director for the Idaho Law Foundation. Carey utilizes her experience as an educator to provide leadership and management for a statewide civic education program. She obtained her bachelor’s degrees in English literature from Mills College in Oakland, California and her master’s degree in instructional design from Boise State University. A native Idahoan, Carey returned to Boise in 1999 after working for 13 years as a teacher and educational administrator in Boston. When not working, Carey likes to walk her dogs, knit, read, bake pies, and spend time with her grandchildren.