Shadow of Her Sins, Chapter Nine (cont)
Jan. 27th, 2014 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalMeanwhile the evaluator's goal, as they explained to Ali, was to see if it could be proven that she was not in a sensible state of mind at the time she committed her crimes. Which meant she had to answer a lot of questions, for hours on end.
“I know what I did. Why do I have to keep explaining it to him?” Ali had demanded to Salli.
“Are his questions upsetting you?” she asked.
“Yes. No. I mean, it's not the questions themselves. I know what I did, and that it was wrong. It's just...”
“What?”
“I hate the damned look on his face. Like I was a victim, not the people I hurt!”
“Ali...” The look on Salli's own face seemed to indicate she wanted to say more, but instead she merely gathered Ali up in her arms and held her tight.
The trial itself was held in the courtroom of the colony's security office. The first official trial that had ever been held there actually. Ali dressed in her best formal suit, flanked at her table by Salli and her solicitor. Lu sat with the rest of her family in the audience seats, along with Lady Melanie and Lord Rolas. Since this was a trial about incidents between the Allied Worlds, there was a panel of five judges overseeing the trial, from five out of the six spacegoing races chosen at random, with the chief justice being an elderly gliten, the vestigial feathers along his arms faded from purple to light lavender with age.
It started with a summation from the prosecutor of Ali's crimes, which was a long list. Most of the details were connected to her time with Bloody Margo, with Margo herself confirming many of them, along with confessions from two of the surviving pirates that had served during the period Ali had been aboard the Relentless. The interrogation of the pirates had been conducted chemically, providing a flood of reliable details. Fortunately Ali herself avoided that risk, foxen being biologically ill-suited for chemical interrogation, due to a reaction to the most effective drugs that sent their blood pressure skyrocketing and running the risk of stroke or heart attack. Otherwise it might have ended up a double trial after she began spilling her knowledge of Lady Melanie's secret identity as the Red Vixen.
Next her defender took his turn addressing the judges, not attempting to excuse Ali from her crimes, but taking pains to point out the evidence that she had been enslaved at a very young age and forced to be a pirate by Bloody Margo, and that there was no evidence once she had left Margo's employ that she had ever killed anyone except in self-defense in her role as bodyguard to both the Red Vixen and later Salli.
“And how does the defendant plead?” the Chief Justice asked, his beak clicking as he spoke.
At her solicitor's motion, Ali came to her feet. “Guilty as charged, on all counts,” she said, trying to keep her voice firm. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Salli stiffen in shock.
The Justice cocked his head, head crest rising in surprise. “You contest none of it?”
“I can't. It's all true, all of it. I am guilty of piracy, and of murder. I admit to it, though I take no pride in any of it.”
“That... simplifies things, to a certain extent,” the Chief Justice said, crest lowering. “Prosecutor, do you have anything to add?”
“I stand by the evidence as I have presented it,” the prosecutor stated. “Given the extreme nature of many of the crimes, and the length of Miss Blacksailor's career, we recommend the maximum penalty.”
“Defender, do you have anything to add?”
House Darktails' solicitor bowed. “I stand by my defense. Though Miss Blacksailor has chosen to plead guilty, I must again emphasize the results of her psychological evaluation. She lived under the sort of extreme pressure that many soldiers must bear from the age of six, constantly living in an environment where any questions could be met with the most savage of responses, where her choices were to kill, or to be killed. It has left her with deep scarring in her psychological makeup.”
“You claim she does not know right from wrong?” the Chief Justice asked. “But she pleaded guilty to the charges.”
“She understands what she did was wrong, now. When she committed the crimes themselves, they were part of, for lack of a better term, her normal routine. How could she know what was right and wrong then, when the only examples of adult behavior to model upon were the pirates around her?”
“We will take both sides' points of view under consideration,” the Chief Justice stated. He pressed a button set on his dais, sounding a loud musical chime. “This court is now adjourned for two Standard days, while we consider the evidence. We will reconvene to pass judgment at Noon local time on the third day.” The other justice rose and bowed, the com signal cut off.
“Ali, for the love the Mother Goddess, you didn't have to plead guilty to everything.” Salli exclaimed, coming to her feet.
Lady Melanie approached, stating, “Ali, are you out of your...” then caught herself at her husband and Salli's withering looks. “Look, just don't forget,” she said, giving a careful glance at the solicitor, “you have other options to explore.”
“I'm not going to try to escape,” Ali said stolidly. “I'm through trying to run away from my fate.” She glanced over to where Lu, Aunt Razi and the rest of her new found family was looking at her with stricken expressions. “Whatever happens next, I don't want to go missing for another twenty years.”
TBC
“I know what I did. Why do I have to keep explaining it to him?” Ali had demanded to Salli.
“Are his questions upsetting you?” she asked.
“Yes. No. I mean, it's not the questions themselves. I know what I did, and that it was wrong. It's just...”
“What?”
“I hate the damned look on his face. Like I was a victim, not the people I hurt!”
“Ali...” The look on Salli's own face seemed to indicate she wanted to say more, but instead she merely gathered Ali up in her arms and held her tight.
The trial itself was held in the courtroom of the colony's security office. The first official trial that had ever been held there actually. Ali dressed in her best formal suit, flanked at her table by Salli and her solicitor. Lu sat with the rest of her family in the audience seats, along with Lady Melanie and Lord Rolas. Since this was a trial about incidents between the Allied Worlds, there was a panel of five judges overseeing the trial, from five out of the six spacegoing races chosen at random, with the chief justice being an elderly gliten, the vestigial feathers along his arms faded from purple to light lavender with age.
It started with a summation from the prosecutor of Ali's crimes, which was a long list. Most of the details were connected to her time with Bloody Margo, with Margo herself confirming many of them, along with confessions from two of the surviving pirates that had served during the period Ali had been aboard the Relentless. The interrogation of the pirates had been conducted chemically, providing a flood of reliable details. Fortunately Ali herself avoided that risk, foxen being biologically ill-suited for chemical interrogation, due to a reaction to the most effective drugs that sent their blood pressure skyrocketing and running the risk of stroke or heart attack. Otherwise it might have ended up a double trial after she began spilling her knowledge of Lady Melanie's secret identity as the Red Vixen.
Next her defender took his turn addressing the judges, not attempting to excuse Ali from her crimes, but taking pains to point out the evidence that she had been enslaved at a very young age and forced to be a pirate by Bloody Margo, and that there was no evidence once she had left Margo's employ that she had ever killed anyone except in self-defense in her role as bodyguard to both the Red Vixen and later Salli.
“And how does the defendant plead?” the Chief Justice asked, his beak clicking as he spoke.
At her solicitor's motion, Ali came to her feet. “Guilty as charged, on all counts,” she said, trying to keep her voice firm. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Salli stiffen in shock.
The Justice cocked his head, head crest rising in surprise. “You contest none of it?”
“I can't. It's all true, all of it. I am guilty of piracy, and of murder. I admit to it, though I take no pride in any of it.”
“That... simplifies things, to a certain extent,” the Chief Justice said, crest lowering. “Prosecutor, do you have anything to add?”
“I stand by the evidence as I have presented it,” the prosecutor stated. “Given the extreme nature of many of the crimes, and the length of Miss Blacksailor's career, we recommend the maximum penalty.”
“Defender, do you have anything to add?”
House Darktails' solicitor bowed. “I stand by my defense. Though Miss Blacksailor has chosen to plead guilty, I must again emphasize the results of her psychological evaluation. She lived under the sort of extreme pressure that many soldiers must bear from the age of six, constantly living in an environment where any questions could be met with the most savage of responses, where her choices were to kill, or to be killed. It has left her with deep scarring in her psychological makeup.”
“You claim she does not know right from wrong?” the Chief Justice asked. “But she pleaded guilty to the charges.”
“She understands what she did was wrong, now. When she committed the crimes themselves, they were part of, for lack of a better term, her normal routine. How could she know what was right and wrong then, when the only examples of adult behavior to model upon were the pirates around her?”
“We will take both sides' points of view under consideration,” the Chief Justice stated. He pressed a button set on his dais, sounding a loud musical chime. “This court is now adjourned for two Standard days, while we consider the evidence. We will reconvene to pass judgment at Noon local time on the third day.” The other justice rose and bowed, the com signal cut off.
“Ali, for the love the Mother Goddess, you didn't have to plead guilty to everything.” Salli exclaimed, coming to her feet.
Lady Melanie approached, stating, “Ali, are you out of your...” then caught herself at her husband and Salli's withering looks. “Look, just don't forget,” she said, giving a careful glance at the solicitor, “you have other options to explore.”
“I'm not going to try to escape,” Ali said stolidly. “I'm through trying to run away from my fate.” She glanced over to where Lu, Aunt Razi and the rest of her new found family was looking at her with stricken expressions. “Whatever happens next, I don't want to go missing for another twenty years.”
TBC
no subject
Date: 2014-01-28 05:54 am (UTC)And no doubt went off to consult the legal precedents.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-28 08:24 am (UTC)And yep. Lot's to talk about...
no subject
Date: 2014-01-28 06:31 pm (UTC)On the other hand, the majority of the crimes she committed were done at the orders or urging of a brutally abusive authority figure who by her own admission had gone through some lengths to literally beat any notion of resistance to her commands out of her.
Psychologically speaking (from what I've read on the subject, and please don't ask why I've done so) being 'raised' by an amoral psychopath tends to warp your ethics. Where most people develop a sense of "right" and "wrong" from their social interactions with people during that time, abuse victims will instead judge their own actions by the criteria of "will doing this cause them to beat me again?"
Little Ali-Kat learned to do as she was told like a good little girl. It's not her fault that the person who did the telling was a monster.
As she grows up, of course, things get a little more murky; while we don't hold children responsible for not knowing any better, we do expect even poorly brought up adults to know what they're doing. On the other hand, the argument that the /second/ batch of pirates she got caught by, while definitely better, still weren't a terribly good exemplar to grow a base of ethics from.
... And on the gripping hand, the one point in time where she did consciously choose between right and wrong, she unhesitatingly chose right, and very nearly died several times over attempting to protect the innocent.
If she were the one personally insisting that she shouldn't be held responsible for what she did as a child, it wouldn't go over nearly as well, but her behaviour both during her arrest and the subsequent trial is clear evidence of remorse and rehabilitation.
... Of course, the prosecution seems to be asking for trouble by insisting on the maximum penalty, which I honestly have trouble grokking. There's extenuating circumstances out the wazoo. Either the prosecutor is suffering from Javert Syndrome, or there's something else going on...
no subject
Date: 2014-01-28 09:17 pm (UTC)