User:Fosstar/Guide To Trials
When the courtroom isn't being used to host cult meetings or public executions, it can commonly be found hosting the mockery of legal procedure that NT dares to call a trial. Should you be one of the unfortunate souls called upon to serve as a juror, prosecutor, defendant, or, god forbid, judge, this guide will help you understand your obligations before the inevitable bombing.
Introduction to law
The law is complicated and esoteric. Though you're not expected to understand all of this, a basic understanding is useful during a trial. Remember, your goal isn't to get an innocent person locked up, or to "win," it's to find the truth. It's not what you know, it's what you can prove.
Basic Concepts
A trial is a hearing with the goal of determining whether a defendant is guilty or not guilty. Each trial has a judge who makes sure people are following the rules and keeps the trial going, normally the captain/HOP, a jury who decides as a group on guilt or innocence based on a simple majority vote, generally just schmucks who walk in off the street, a prosecutor, who argues NT's case, generally either a security officer or the HOS, and a defendant, who argues their case for their innocence along with their lawyer. Every trial works off of a few basic rules:
- The defendant is always innocent until proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, to be guilty. This means the judge and jury should treat the defendant like a law abiding citizen and the prosecutor like a nerd spouting nonsense until they prove otherwise.
- The defendant has a right to a speedy trial. This means that the judge should keep things moving and not let stuff get held up.
- The defendant has a right not to be tried twice for the same crime. This means that if someone's found innocent of murder, they're innocent. Even if you find out they did it, tough luck, they get to ride to centcom a free spaceman.
Timetable
This timetable should keep a trial from lasting for the entire round, but it's not set in stone. Use whatever works best for the round you're in.
- 1 minute - The Captain announces the trial and calls for a jury, HOP closes their line and gets their robes on to Judge, security moves the defendant to the courtroom, prosecutor and defendant introduce all their evidence and witnesses.
- 3 minutes - Prosecutor and defendant present their opening statements. These statements explain what they will prove throughout the trial. No legal arguments are allowed in opening statements. Max time of 1:30 for each statement, should be timed by the judge.
- 3 minutes - Physical evidence is introduced and explained to the jury.
- 5 minutes - Witnesses testify about the crime. Each side should get a maximum of 3 witnesses, including a maximum of one character witness.
- 3 minutes - Each side is allowed to cross examine the other's witnesses and ask them clarifying questions about their testimony.
- 3 minutes - Prosecutor and defendant present their closing statements. These statements wrap up their arguments and may reference evidence/testimony. Jury is asked to render a verdict.
- 1 minute - Sentencing.
Basic Terms
These are the most common terms that you'll hear in a trial.
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Admit | Introduce evidence. |
| Admittable | Can be introduced. |
| Court | Catchall term for the Judge and Jury. |
| Evidence | Proof that this guy dunit or didn'tit. |
| Examination | Questioning a witness. |
| Impeach | Prove that a witness isn't telling the truth. |
| Motion | Ask the judge to do something. |
| Space Law | The laws most trials follow. |
| Station/NT Policy | The laws you make up if it'll be more fun for everyone. |
| Objection | A motion made to a judge in order to stop a question or exclude evidence if said question or evidence violates court procedure in some way. |
| Overrule | When a judge denies an objection. |
| Opening the Door | When the defense brings in positive character witnessesses, therefore allowing the prosecution to bring in negative witnessess. |
| Rule | When a judge decides on something. |
| Strike | When a judge decides to remove testimony from the record for violations. |
| Verdict | A ruling on if the defendant is guilty. |
| Sustain | When a judge grants an objection. |
| Sworn in | The state a witness is in after they've affirmed that they will not lie on the stand. |
Guilt
Guilt is the state of being resposible for a crime. People can either be guilty, meaning they committed a crime and it wasn't an accident, or not guilty, meaning they didn't commit the crime, or it was an accident. Guilt requires two elements, which are listed as scales below along with examples: (Keep in mind much of this is modified and simplified)
Guilty Mind
Mens Rea or Guilty Mind is a term for the state of mind the defendant was in during the crime. The more Mens Rea someone has, the more they deserve punishment. Accidents deserve less punishment than planned crimes.
| Term | Description | Example | Probable Charge/Sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depraved Heart | A depraved act done with total disrespect for human life. This is meant for people who go full Silence of the Lambs. | John Spaceman kidnaps the captain, removes his organs without anesthetic, and feeds them to heisenbee as revenge for not giving him a promotion. | First Degree Murder (Death) |
| Premeditated | An act planned out in cold blood with an understanding of the result. If someone's plotting to murder someone and succeed, they go here. | John Spaceman shoots the captain after waiting outside his quarters for 10 minutes as revenge for not giving him a promotion. | First Degree Murder (5:00 minutes if you can clone the guy, Death/Borging if not.) |
| Intentional | An act done without any planning that achieves a result. Unplanned murders or accidental deaths from beatings that go too far go here. | John Spaceman shoots the captain for calling him a jerk. | Second Degree Murder (4:00) |
| Heat of the Moment | An act done in the heat of the moment. Any reasonable person would have done the same. Use this if the victim was a real asshole to the murderer and was actively trying to provoke them. | John Spaceman beats the captain to death after he fired him. The captain had been harassing John for the entire shift. | Voluntary Manslaughter (2:30) |
| Reckless | An act done with the knowledge that it might lead to a certain result without any concern for said result. This is for accidents where someone was clearly acting stupid and shoulda known better. | John Spaceman slips the captain just as Jane The Engineer was opening an airlock, causing the captain to slide into space. | Manslaughter (2:00) |
| Negligent | An act done without the knowledge that it will lead to a result, but where any reasonable person would know better. This is for accidents that don't meet the burden for recklessness and where you can understand how the guy on trial coulda made that mistake. | John Spaceman forgets to close a plasma can while filling a tank, flooding engineering in plasma abd causing a fire, which kills the captain. | Gross Negligence (1:00) |
| Accidental | An act done with absolutely no intent to cause harm. | John Spaceman gets flushed down disposals and bumps into the captain as he flails around trying to escape, gibbing the captain in the crusher. | A snarky ticket |
Guilty Act
Acus Reus or Guilty Act is a term that measures the responsibility for a crime the defendant has. Someone who tried to blow the captain's head off with a shotgun and failed miserably doesn't deserve the same punishment as someone who actually did it.
| Term | Description | Example | Culpability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct Causation | John Spaceman shoots the captain for calling him a nerd. | Total | |
| Indirect Causation | An indirect, provable link from the actions of one crewmember to a criminal result on another without the involvement of another | John Spaceman hacks the captain's door to shock him for calling him a dork. | Total |
| Conspiracy | An indirect, provable link from the actions of one crewmember to a criminal result on another in which another crewmember committed the act after being incited by the first. Requires an act that furthers the crime from the first person that goes past past incitement. | John Spaceman tells Jane the engineer to shock the captain's door for calling him a poo and gives her hacking tools. | Almost total. |
| Incitement | An indirect, provable link from the actions of one crewmember to a criminal result on another in which another crewmember committed the act after being incited by the first. | John Spaceman tells Jane the engineer to shock the captain's door for calling him a Windows XP. She does it. | Partial. |
| Attempt | Clear actions taken by a crewmember in order to achieve a criminal goal. | John Spaceman threatens to kill the captain and plants a bomb in his quarters. The bomb fails because it was a dud. | Partial. |
| Coincidence | No actions taken. | John Spaceman threatens to kill the captain for calling him a dumbo. The captain gets shot by nukeops 5 minutes later. | None. |
Evidence
Evidence is the combined materials that establish guilt or innocence in a trial. All evidence must be legally obtained, clear, and directly relevant to the trial. The most compelling evidence is either a direct confession or strong forensic links to a crime scene. The least compelling is hearsay or gossip. Examples of evidence for or against a murder is below:
| Evidence | Defense Example | Prosecution Example | Counters | Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct (Confession) | N/A | John Spaceman confessed to the murder | Unless you can prove sec beat him or gave him Cat Drugs to get the confession, Nope . | Don't bother hosting a trial. |
| Physical (Caught in the Act) | N/A | John Spaceman is caught dragging the captain's dead body to an airlock while still stabbing it | Nope | Don't bother hosting a trial. |
| Physical (Item) | John Spaceman is accused of murder, the murder knife is found with blood on it in Jim Spaceman's bag | John Spaceman is accused of murder, the murder knife is in his bag | Claim framing or that the suspect just picked it up to turn it in to security | Damning |
| Physical (Forensics) | John Spaceman is accused of murder, the murder knife is found with Jim Spaceman's prints on it in disposals | John Spaceman is accused of murder, the murder knife is found with his prints on it in disposals | Claim that the defendant was at the scene at an earlier time or that they simply touched the weapon | Damning |
| Direct (Witness Testimony - Single) | John Spaceman is accused of murder, the Botanist says he was smoking weed with him when it happened. | John Spaceman is accused of murder, The Miner says he saw John stab the victim from space. | Discredit the witness, impeach their credibility, claim personal gain from testimony, claim links to the defendant or prosecution. Bring in a counter witness to debunk their testimony. | Damning |
| Direct (Documents/Messages) | John Spaceman is accused of murdering the captain, he contacted the captain to resolve their disputes 5 minutes before the murder and had a productive PDA conversation that showed no intent for murder. | John Spaceman is accused of murdering the captain, he PDAed Jim Spaceman about wanting the captain dead 5 minutes before the murder. | Difficult to counter, try and frame it as not showing intent if you can. | Good |
| Direct (Interview Logs) | John Spaceman is accused of murdering the captain, he is interviewed by sec after the fact and presents a strong alibi | John Spaceman is accused of murdering the captain, he is interviewed by sec and admits to hating the captain. | Very difficult to counter | Good |
| Indirect (Character Testimony) | John Spaceman is accused of murdering the captain, 5 people testify that he's a good guy and not the criminal type | John Spaceman is accused of murdering the captain, the clown testifies that he's a good guy and not the criminal type | Very difficult to counter due to subjectivity, good rethoric and counter-witnessesses are the best way to handle this. | Moderate |
| Indirect (Expert Testimony) | John Spaceman is accused of murdering the captain, James Doctor testifies that the captain was murdered with Sarin and that John lacks the means to make Sarin as a Janitor. | John Spaceman is accused of murdering the captain, James Doctor testifies that the captain was murdered with Sarin and that John, as the only scientist, is the only one who had easy access to the equipment necessary to make sarin. | Object whenever the expert strays outside of pure fact, prove bias. | Moderate |
| Indirect (Hearsay) | John Spaceman is accused of murdering the captain, the clown says he's innocent because he heard that he didn't do it. | John Spaceman is accused of murdering the captain, the clown says he's guilty because the botanist said he was innocent | Object if opposing council tries to call the clown, object to any clearly bullshit testimony or testimony on the opinions of others | Weak |
Evidentiary Objections
If evidence is obtained through security acting illegally, if it's weak, or if it could bias the jury, it can be excluded. To exclude this kind of evidence, object when the prosecution mentions it, and state your case to the judge.
| Objection | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Prejudicial | Evidence that makes the jury hate the defendant/victim more than it proves anything. Cannot be used to exclude character testimony after the defense "opens the door." | John Spaceman is on trial for murder, the defense introduces evidence that the victim killed Heisenbee and Tanhony. |
| Irrelevant | Evidence that doesn't prove or disprove guilt in a case. | John Spaceman is on trial for murder, the prosecution introduces the Trial of Heisenbee as evidence. |
| Illegally Obtained | Evidence that, though it may be relevant, was obtained through an illegal search or via shady means. Basically the "DON'T MEATGAME" objection | John Spaceman is on trial for murder, the prosecution introduces evidence that a security officer got by searching him even though he wasn't a suspect. |
| Fruit of the Poisonous Tree | Evidence that, though it may be relevant, is somehow connected to illegal activities. | John Spaceman is on trial for murder, the prosecution introduces evidence that a security officer got by following a note he had in his backpack after an illegal search that detailed where he hid the weapon. |
Defenses: [TODO]