Atlasia v. Ogis/Tyrion

[Spamage]

I, Spamage, swear that I will well and truly try the matter in issue between the parties, and give a true verdict according to the law and evidence, so help me Dave.

[H. Ross Peron]

I, General Mung Beans, swear that I will well and truly try the matter in issue between the parties, and give a true verdict according to the law and evidence, so help me Dave.

[TJ in Oregon]

Now that we have selected and sworn in the jury, I am now going to ask the prosecution to present its case and call any witnesses they may require. Cross-examination of witnesses by the defense will be permitted after the prosecution has concluded their questioning. Objections by either party to a line of questioning will be duly considered.

I will then ask the defense to respond and call any witnesses they may require. Again, cross-examination by the prosecution will be permitted after the conclusion of questioning, and objections to a line of questioning will be duly considered.

And with that I will ask the prosecution to begin.

[rpryor03]

Thank you, Mr. Justice. Justice TJ, Members of the Honorable Jury, Citizens of Atlasia, today we come to decide the fate of former President Tyrion, also known as Ogis. To remind the jury of what happened, I will go over the background. On October 1st, as GM, SirNick posted a storyline simulating a terrorist attack on the White House, German stock exchange and a military barracks in Kuwait. On October 2nd, due to a lack of response from the DemPGH White House, SirNick gave the attacks devastating consequences in the financial market. President DemPGH demanded that SirNick revise his storyline and make the attack on the White House a lightning strike, and sweep under the rug the rest of the attack. SirNick refused to do so and was dismissed as GM by the President. Outrage at the President's decision swept the nation, and both SOEA Averroes and SOIA Hagrid resigned. With disapproval from all corners, President DemPGH resigned, giving Vice President Tyrion the Presidency. In between, multiple citizens tried to attempt coups, including Snowstalker and Alfred Jones. On October 4, President Tyrion posted the thread President Ogis - A Journey. To summarize the thread, President Tyrion told that he controlled the accounts of Ogis, coffeebeans, Persepolis, and Agooji. This clearly shows that Tyrion was in violation of Section 3 of the Re-Consolidated Criminal Justice Act:

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Mr. Justice, I do not wish to call any witnesses. I rest my case.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Your Honour, members of the Jury, I will begin the case for the defence tomorrow.

[DemPGH]

Respectfully and FTR,

I did not know that Tyrion and "Ogis" were the same person, if that even matters, albeit at different times, and to this point I have not received an explanation or admission from Tyrion / Ogis. Maybe that doesn't matter, I don't know. I don't care, but I want known what happened. I chose Tyrion as V.P. based upon the actions of Tyrion as Pacific Senator, which I thought at the time were admirable. yes, I've had a chance to re-evaluate that as well as a lot of things related to Atlasia. But if Ogis / Tyrion has been punished already, and did not act as Tyrion / Ogis simultaneously, I think the court should at least consider that as "time served." But if the court chooses not to do that, and to punish Tyrion / Ogis further, I understand fully. I also was lied to. If this court punishes Tyrion / Ogis further, I will not lament.  

When it became evident to me that SirNick was acting on no other impulse and with no other intent than to inflict harm on me and the political process, I had to fire him. My only regret is not doing so sooner. So this court can deal with Tyrion / Ogis as it sees fit, but that is my experience and position.

--DemPGH

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Honourable Justice, members of the Jury... I must say that I am surprised to be presenting the case for the defence so early. I had expected the prosecution to have prepared a detailed case against my client, and I had expected the prosecution to argue this case forcefully. Instead we have a brief and totally irrelevant narrative about the political crisis that resulted in my client ascending to the Presidency, followed by a repetition of the claim made against my client in the original indictment and little else of substance. My client, your former President, is on trial on what amounts to a technicality. As such, the case for the prosecution is paper thin. It is a joke. It is an embarrassment. Member of the Jury, it is an outrage, a genuine outrage (and one that is, I suspect, possibly politically motivated. I remember well the snickering remark about how my client "was banned, but not prosecuted in the Atlasian Judicial System" - the implications of that are quite clear), that my client has been hauled into the dock on such nebulous and flimsy grounds.

The case for my client's innocence is, however, anything but flimsy and anything but nebulous. I am about to present to you incontrovertible evidence that my client is not guilty of the charges brought against him. I could argue (and present evidence) that at no point did he intend to commit voter fraud and that, therefore, he could not have committed it (one can hardly accidentally commit fraud of as serious a nature as this), but I shall instead present to you an even stronger argument, one that calls into question the decision of the Justice Department to even consider pursuing this ridiculous prosecution.

The Constitution of the Republic of Atlasia grants certain powers to the holder of its highest office, and this includes the power to pardon. Indeed, in a Constitution that has been noted for its circumscribed nature, the President's right to pardon is remarkably sweeping. Article II, Section 1, Clause 7 states that:

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These are sweeping and awesome powers and they are granted with but one restriction, that of impeachment. You will notice that nowhere is it stated that a President cannot pardon himself. We can, therefore, infer from this that a sitting President can indeed pardon himself. On this matter the Constitution is, I believe, coruscatingly clear.

Why is this relevant? Because on the 4th of October 2014 (note the date), President Tyrion issued the following Executive Order:

I pardon all citizens of Atlasia, former and current, for any crimes against Atlasia committed in the last decade.

At this point all crimes sentences in the Republic of Atlasia that occurred before the 4th of October 2014 became null and void, while immunity from prosecution was given to all those who committed crimes before said date. Whatever you may think of President Tyrion's motivations for issuing this blanket pardon, that he issued it, and issued it legally and in accordance with the Constitution, cannot be denied. No offence committed before the 4th of October 2014 can thus be subject to a prosecution in Atlasia.

I ask to note again the date of this Executive Order: the 4th of October 2014. When did the most recent alleged offence take place? On the 24th of January 2010. As such not only is my client not guilty, but he shouldn't even be sitting in the dock as he has no case to answer.

I intend to call my client as witness because I believe that, even though the case against him is a patent joke, he has a right to his day in court... but before I do so I wish to make a request of you, Mr Justice. Former President DemPGH has just yelled a statement of sorts from the gallery, and it is possible that the jury may have heard him. I request for his remarks to be stricken from the record and for the Jury to be specifically instructed to ignore them. He was not called as a witness for the prosecution, he will not be called as a witness by the defence, and it appears that he is attempting to influence the outcome of the trial.

Finally, I confirm (again) that I wish to call the defendant, Tyrion, as a witness.

[Tyrion The Unbanned]

I confirm that I am present at the proceedings and am ready to take the stand.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

My client wishes to be placed under oath, Your Honour.

[TJ in Oregon]

Repeat the following -

I, Ogis24, swear that I will tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me Dave.

[Tyrion The Unbanned]

I, Ogis24, swear that I will tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me Dave.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Mr Tyrion, would you care to provide to the jury a brief outline of your history in Atlasia, paying particular attention to your attitude to the game when you were (if you forgive me) a juvenile delinquent, and to your attitude towards it now that you are an upstanding citizen?

[Tyrion The Unbanned]

It would be my pleasure.

I would not say I joined the forum under the most innocent of pretenses. The impetus was to bug one benconstine, and, really, it was juvenile on my part. I suffered the malady that we have all faced, that of being 14. Beyond my extracurricular pursuits, I registered in Atlasia out of actual keen interest in a political sim. Even then, the idea of a messageboard society intrigued me. Of course, I was misguided and vaguely trollish (see: 14), but not openly ignorant of the laws which governed Atlasia. I waited in line like everyone else for a citizenship card, even if I would have giggled a bit if the numbers 6 and 9 happened to be adjacent in my SSN.

Eventually, I was banned, and deservedly so.

I returned every once in a while, and my contributions to society improved every time. However, my debt to society was not paid, and I was rebuffed by Dave and his angels, praise be unto them. 

Eventually, I returned to the forum as "agooji", and I immediately stated that my identity was Ogis. I wished to get a fresh start. Dave messaged me that same day; I assume I was sufficiently apologetic, because he never responded, and I was allowed to stay. I served as a good member of the Mideast Assembly, but then the real world called, and I left my office. I returned (with the same account), and was banned. It was never truly explained to me what happened. All I know was that the account was allowed to persist for 2.5 years (not all active), and then I was banned.

Then I registered as Tyrion quite a while later, and I believe we are more aware of that story. I was, in my biased estimation, a good politician. I was no longer a delinquent. I was a productive member of society.

At no point did I register in Atlasia with anything less than the utmost interest in and respect for the system, and I never attempted to game the system in any way. I was, indeed, always just one vote in a pool of many, one hanging chad in the chadmiralcy.

And now I am here.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Thank you, Tyrion. I have no further questions.

[TJ in Oregon]

The prosecution may now cross-examine the witness.

[rpryor03]

Defendant, a few questions.

1. Did you know that while creating these multiple accounts that you were breaking the laws of Atlasia and of the Atlas itself?

2. Did anyone else know during your stint as "Tyrion" that you were also the other accounts?

3. Why did you decide to pardon all criminals?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Objection! The reasoning behind my client's decision to issue a sweeping pardon was a) explained by him at the time and b) has no bearing on his guilt (or otherwise) as regards this present trial. This is a point of law, your honour. The pardon cannot be ignored merely because the prosecution regards its morality as suspect; our society is governed by the rule of law, not the rule of moral panic.

[rpryor03]

Objection!

Mr. Justice, the prosecution does not regard the morality as suspect, and would just like the defendant to explain on it a little further.

[Türkisblau]

I object to the objection to the objection!

Sorry, I had to.

[TJ in Oregon]

Objection overruled. The Court feels the defendant's reason for issuing the pardon is pertinent to  establishing the facts of this case.

[Tyrion The Unbanned]

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Well, it's quite clear to me that I was a rather misguided member of the forum in my early days, but electoral manipulation is beyond me. At no point did I intend to commit voter fraud. In my mind, no crime was committed.

I don't know that there are any higher laws of this place or entity you call "Atlas", but I presumably balanced the ledger with the Man Upstairs after having been tempbanned. 

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No.

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At the time, there was a great deal of civil unrest, and the pardons were necessary to maintain peace in the Union without incentivizing bloody coups. There were quite a few people laying claim to some piece of land or some position, so rather than allow the country to descend into Civil War, I pardoned those responsible so we could move on. I also pardoned those not responsible, and their mothers as well, as a consequence of that policy decision.

[rpryor03]

Ogis, did you know that by pardoning all criminals, you were pardoning yourself as well? Did you think of that before you posted it?

[Tyrion The Unbanned]

Ogis, did you know that by pardoning all criminals, you were pardoning yourself as well? Did you think of that before you posted it?

The first question implicitly assumes that I am a criminal, so I don't know how to answer it.

Here is the best I can do: I did not think of any future engagements I might have with the Court before issuing that pardon, no, and I can't imagine why I would have.

[rpryor03]

You did not think that by pardoning yourself, that it would erase your crimes of creating multiple accounts?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Objection! That is a loaded question. My client does not believe himself to be guilty of any crime and is considered by the law to be innocent until proven otherwise.