The Diego Diaries: Wheelin' and Dealin' (dd8 96)
Finally. Here we go. :D
=0=In a hearing room in the Courthouse, District 6, City 4, Autobot City, Mars
Optimus Prime sat in the judge's seat in the courtroom, a small one usually used for small trials or arbitrations. Prowl was sitting in the recorder's seat having made ready all of the equipment to run the transcript portion of the gathering. Security was here and all was made ready for the preliminary hearing on the Primal Hearing with Special Circumstances that faced the Wheelus Faction and its various members. Most of the smaller fry had faced trial and were serving various sentences of various lengths in the prison now fifty miles north of The City.
It was time for the leadership to dance.
There was security standing around by the door where they would come, Karyll Wheelus, his two bonds, Lan and D as well as two judges and a senator from Kalis, Timorous, Clamor and Serafus. The evidence found had connected them to several scandals, graft, corruption and collusion on crimes including murder and treason. They would stand trial together.
Coln glanced at Prowl, then nodded.
Prowl glanced at the defense table which was cluttered with defense lawyers, some of whom had taken to specialize in such high profile convoluted cases. "Gentlemen? Ladies?"
The lead attorney, a tall femme named MaR-lo stood. "We are ready, Prowl." She sat again.
Prowl glanced at Prime who nodded. "Very well. Do you require your clients present?"
MaR-lo glanced at the others, then Prowl. "We would like them to sit in the audience and listen."
Prime glanced at the bailiff. "Please bring them in to sit in the audience behind their counsel, Bailiff."
He turned to the door, opened it, leaned in, then back as through it a number of mechs began to come. They were wearing cuffs, something that the status of their offenses required. They crossed the room, then sat down behind their defenders one after the other.
Karyll Wheelus looked the same but the enigmas of his bonds and the three others were still unknown country. Most of the senators and judges were predisposed to challenge and appose Prime and even though they did and made it personal toward him, Prime seldom knew the 'lesser lights' personally or well.
They took a moment to debrief off line, then MaR-lo turned to Prime with a slight bow. "We are ready, Lord Optimus."
Prime glanced at Prowl who stood. "Hear ye all. This is a hearing conducted by Optimus, the Prime of Cybertron to hear petitions and pleas from the defenders and prosecutors of these individuals. If there is any outbursts or situations caused by anyone you will be cleared from here immediately and face possible prosecution. We are in order." He sat, then glanced at Coln. "If you would begin please." He then began to transcribe and record the hearing.
Coln stood. "We are ready to prosecute, Lord Optimus. All of our evidence has been shared with the defense and we have our witness list prepared. We are prepared to defend that list as there are objections to some of those called by counsel. Other than anything that arises here, we have no objection to beginning." Coln bowed slightly, then sat.
Prowl glanced at MaR-lo. "Counselor?"
She stood, a tall elegant femme of some reputation on Cybertron for taking hopeless cases and making something of them. She was against the death penalty and stood for anyone facing such charges. She defended any caste against any charge that might lead to death or to draconian prison sentences. She was good, decent, fair minded and relentless. It was no surprise to anyone that she had the Wheelus case. She was an advisor to the defense in all of the Special Circumstance trials so far held here. "Lord Optimus, I would like to put the petition about timeliness of this trial as per the Bill of Rights and other conventions I have cited in the petition.
"Even though we are aware of the case being held up by circumstances, we put the petition prayerfully. We are looking at six years as per the TMC calendar of incarceration without even a hearing to resubmit the indictments to ensure a fair and timely process as possible. I'm concerned that in that time that my client's rights have been harmed and their right to due process has been irreparably damaged. I'm aware of precedent in the colony regarding other special circumstances defendants but I'm convinced that incarcerating them without the option of settling their legal status not only damaged them but also what we're attempting to achieve here in this new start for our people."
Prime considered that and there were parts of her argument where he had sympathy but she dealt in the small picture and he held the entire mirror. "It is not the point of our new life here, Lady MaR-lo, to be atypical about our beliefs and practices. We hold to the Covenants, foundational documents and the laws and precedents that our body of law is based in and upon as it has been revised since The Fall. We have all suffered under the arbitrary dispensing of decisions and actions in the past. We work as hard as is possible to not return to the convenience of such behavior as we work to rebuild our people.
"That being said, we have events and situations that arise that require us to put forward other things, sometimes very dangerous events that take up my time. It is not what I want but it is what we are facing. Given that martial law gives me leeway in the terms of what our options are, I choose to impose only the mildest and least invasive version I could. We are at war even now. The enemy never sleeps. Therefore, I must suspend some things to do what is required of me at the time.
"No one else can do special circumstances trials. It has been determined by the War Crimes Commission, the Committee to Review Special Trials and the grand jury that heard the evidence that your clients have warranted a trial of this stature. It has always been a priority on my calendar barring events and so we meet now to undertake it. I deny your petition for the aforementioned reasons and because there are overriding circumstances facing our people of which I cannot detail here that warrant a great deal of my time."
MaR-lo stared at him, then nodded. "I will still press it, Lord Optimus. I, too, have my own duties and responsibilities."
"Understood," he replied.
"Lord Optimus, I would like Crader struck off the witness list due to his mental condition which is at best marginally stable and because of his penchant for telling lies to create havoc. If my clients are facing a Pantheonic intervention, then it behooves all of us to have witnesses that are stable and not epic unfailing liars who do so to create spite rather than the possibility of truth."
Coln stood. "Lord Optimus, his mental health profile indicates that he's lucid and capable of witnessing at this trial. He's a direct participant of many of the events in the indictments and he's given consent to be here. My honorable opponent can list him as hostile but I would like to have him speak. We've spent months and months going over his testimony and I feel that he's in a state that would be beneficial to our case."
"He's a congenital liar who would say anything to get attention and throw chaos into the discussion. I do believe he's a detriment to himself let alone others and would strenuously ask that he be disallowed," MaR-lo said.
Behind her, the defendants sat, some of them showing distress and some not. Karyll Wheelus was coolly watching Prime, studying him for the ordeal ahead. His two bonds, both of them from wealthy families who bonded with him through the dynastic method but were really links from wealthy individuals to him for business purposes from their families were utterly at sea about the proceedings. The two judges were pensive and the senator looked afraid.
Prime had an off line conversation with Jarro, then glanced at MaR-lo. "I have just discussed this with the author of that mental health report, Jarro. He said that there are concerns for both of you with this witness. I am going to interview him before he has the chance to testify. I will do that in private to test his mettle and try to get a clear picture of his motives for testifying. I will hold off making a decision on your petition until then."
She considered that, then nodded. "Thank you. I would also like to challenge the status of the trial itself. I do not believe that the circumstances under review indicate that a special circumstances trial is warranted for this case. There are some in the prison serving sentences here that have equal accusatory records and they aren't facing this level of possibility. This is a case that involves life and death, whether its a firing squad or the Pantheon removing them from here. We have in our new Common Code of Sentencing Standards put the death penalty and sentences that impose similar outcomes such as abandonment on a penal colony planet into the bin of history. I believe this belongs there as well."
Prime considered that, waiting for the Matrix to nudge him one way or the other. It didn't. He thought a moment, then said, "I do not believe in the death penalty for any circumstances. When we wrote the legal and political charter of this colony we included Cybertron and the Empire even though we did not hold them then. The death penalty is off the books and forever will be. I would suggest that few can fully understand the meaning of this decision more than someone who has seen death to the degree that I and others of the army have over millions of vorns of war. Our people have seen hardship and terrors as well but not to the degree some of us in the wars fighting directly have. I do not support more death by the state. You and I agree upon that fully.
"In any case, however, I concur that the death penalty and other like sentences will no longer be obtainable in Cybertronian courts. Given that, I would argue that the Special Circumstances part of this trial falls short of a death penalty. There is no death involved because its clear to me that no one ever dies. We transform from one life to another, perhaps more literally than any other species. But all species do because we are all immortal spiritual beings.
"The Matrix and the Pantheon make it very clear how much They love each and everyone one of us no matter our circumstances or actions. No one dies, Counselor. The Pantheon has full reign to decide what They should do to maintain balance in the universe and will whatever I might feel or say. I can no more stop that from happening than you can. But consider that They reserve the right to weigh in on difficult matters, thereby making sure that the outcome is honest and free of bias which in and of itself is heartening. I have to make difficult decisions and I am glad they weigh in to give Their own take on what has been decided. It ensures that my decisions are not excessive, biased or punitive.
"I cannot agree that this portion of the trial be suspended. I cannot make it happen even if I tried. I can rename this trial to something else but They will come if They feel it warranted. I do not accept your petition on this matter."
She stared at him with a slight frustration. "I will press my petitions forward anyway, Lord Optimus. I am adamant on some things."
"I understand. So am I and so are They," Prime answered.
They continued, working out some housekeeping things, what was admissible and the possibility of taking things out of order to get the testimony of some who were emotionally afraid to testify in front of the Faction leadership. Motions for and against having screens to help some speak were batted back and forth. Then Optimus agreed to them with modifications.
By the time they were concluded, the trial was set for three days from now. As that was finished, the prisoners stood to go back to their cells. Karyll Wheelus paused a moment to take in Prime who stared at him stony faced. Then he walked to the door and into the jail. In three days, the fate of him, his family and his co-conspirators would begin to be decided.
Then it would be up to the Pantheon, or not, what happened next.
=0=TBC 02-20-2021