NE: Northeast v. SomebodyWhoExists

[rpryor03]

The Government of the Northeast Region, represented by Special Prosecutor rpryor03, hereby charges the member SomebodyWhoExists with rebellion and terrorism. As per Section 4 of the Re-Consolidated Criminal Justice Act, they are defined as:

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I will submit evidence if the Court decides to hear the case and thank the honorable Judicial Officer for his attention and time.

[cinyc]

I don't think that I have any choice but to hear the case under the Northeast Constitution.

My first question to defendant SWE is if he has a lawyer (I will give him ample time to obtain one), how he pleads, and if he pleads not guilty, whether he prefers a bench or jury trial.

[Oakvale]

I will be recusing myself from the Supreme Court for the duration of this trial and any subsequent appeals and will thus be representing the accused, SWE, as the lawyer for the defense.

On behalf of the defense I wish to inform the honourable Court that my client wishes to plead NOT GUILTY, and requests that he be tried by a jury as is his right under law.

[cinyc]

Very well.  Before I go through the process of empaneling a jury, are there any pretrial motions?

[rpryor03]

I don't have any, Your Honor.

[Oakvale]

Your Honor,

I thank you for the speed and diligence with which you have conducted these proceedings. However the defense is constitutionally obliged to request that this case be dismissed on the grounds that Mr. RPryor has no authority to represent the Northeast government, due to the fact that he is a sitting Atlasian Senator and thus cannot legitimately hold the office of prosecutor. It is my considered opinion as a Supreme Court justice that allowing this trial to proceed with such a glaring question of legitimacy dangling overhead would do a grave disservice to the accused, the people of the Northeast, and to the justice system itself by raising the spectre of a mistrial.

As you correctly noted in the confirmation thread for Rpryor's nomination as prosecutor -

So you can be prosecutor and Senator at the same time? If that's so, I'll support you.

Unfortunately, I don't think he can.  It violates the federal constitution to hold two offices simultaneously, other than a carve-out for Senators holding federal cabinet positions.  That there is a confirmation hearing pretty much assures that special prosecutor is an office.

Accordingly I would suggest that this case be dismissed, and, if necessary, brought to Court at a later date with a legitimately appointed prosecutor.  Thank you.

[cinyc]

I'd like to hear the Special Prosecutor's argument as to why he thinks he can simultaneously be Special Prosecutor and Senator at the same time when Article V, Section 1, Clause 1 of the Atlasian Constitution seems to ban such dual officeholding.

[rpryor03]

To quote my friend, Governor Pikachu;

"Instead of necessarily being an officer, the SP could technically be an agent hired by the executive branch to do the job of prosecution?"

[Oakvale]

Your Honor,

The governor's invocation of a theoretical interpretation is irrelevant - while it may be that a sympathetic Court could theoretically rule that the office of prosecutor is not an office as such and thus not in violation of the Constitution, even allowing for the ambiguity around this issue prejudices the trial and would undermine public confidence in the justice system.

Furthermore, the Governor later stated that he was searching for suitable candidates to replace the Senator, indicating that he accepts the unconstitutionality of Mr. Rpryor's appointment.

The Emergency Prosecutor Act states -

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The fact that the office of prosecutor requires confirmation by the legislature clearly indicates that  it is a formal office for all intents and purposes, not a simple ad hoc title and responsibility. I would also note that the legislature noted this during the confirmation process, explicitly indicating that they recognised the dangerous constitutional ambiguity involved in naming a sitting Senator to this second position.

[cinyc]

Thank you for your arguments.

For the reasons specified by Oakvale in his last post, I find that it Special Prosecutor is an office in the Northeast, and Rpryor03 is therefore barred from being Special Prosecutor and Senator at the same time.  It would be strange for the Assembly to be required to confirm someone who is not considered an officer of the Northeast.

Therefore, unless Rpryor03 is willing to step down as Senator (which I doubt), I have no recourse but to temporarily dismiss the charges without prejudice.  A new Special Prosecutor who does not hold any other office may be named by the Northeast to prosecute SomebodyWhoExists if the Governor thinks it is prudent to do so.

I will give Rpryor03 a day to declare whether he will step down as Senator before charges are automatically temporarily dismissed.

[pikachu]

I'm currently looking for alternative options.

[cinyc]

I'm currently looking for alternative options.

I would ask that you do so as soon as possible.   Justice delayed is justice denied.

[pikachu]

I'm currently looking for alternative options.

I would ask that you do so as soon as possible.   Justice delayed is justice denied.

I shall carry on the prosecution myself.

[cinyc]

I'm currently looking for alternative options.

I would ask that you do so as soon as possible.   Justice delayed is justice denied.

I shall carry on the prosecution myself.

I suppose that is your prerogative as Governor.  Are the charges going to be the same as Rpryor03s?

Does the defense have any objection to this - or any other pretrial motions before I empanel a jury?  (Ideally, I would do so before I go on vacation next week.  I will have probably have Internet access intermittently, but will only be online sparingly.)

[Oakvale]

Your Honor,

I have no particular objection to the Governor leading the prosecution, although it does raise the question of why the Emergency Prosecutor Act was invoked at all.

[cinyc]

According to the Registrar General's most recent list, there are 41 Northeasterners.  I've assigned a number from 1 to 41 to all Northeasterners, in the order in which they are presented in the Registrar General's list of residents by region.  This is not necessarily in alphabetical order.   Using the random number sequence generator at Random.org yielded the following numbers:

16 34 22 15 36

That corresponds to the following Northeasterners:
Juror 1: homelycooking
Juror 2: Dallasfan65
Juror 3: Alfred F. Jones
Juror 4: GM3PRP (a.k.a. Grumpy Gramps)
Juror 5: smoltchanov

I will alert the potential jurors that their service is requested. Are there any objections to these jurors?  I have saved the string sequence and will replace those who are unable, unwilling or disqualified from serving with the next person on the list.

[Oakvale]

Your Honor,

My client publicly posted his "ignore list" recently, which included the name of the juror smoltchanov.

I believe that, since this list was publicly posted, the juror in question may have seen it and thus harbor an animosity against my client for his admittedly crass public display of disapproval. I also believe his very aggressive identification as a "moderate" opposed to extremists of all hues, which goes above and beyond simple self-labeling, may bias him against my client due to his staunch left-wing views. I humbly request that he be replaced with a juror whose impartiality is beyond reproach.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

My Holiness does not often deign to dabble in secular matters, but if the ecclesiastical hand of the Most Holy Northeaster Catholic Church is required in the adjudication of this trial I shall serve as required.

[cinyc]

Your Honor,

My client publicly posted his "ignore list" recently, which included the name of the juror smoltchanov.

I believe that, since this list was publicly posted, the juror in question may have seen it and thus harbor an animosity against my client for his admittedly crass public display of disapproval. I also believe his very aggressive identification as a "moderate" opposed to extremists of all hues, which goes above and beyond simple self-labeling, may bias him against my client due to his staunch left-wing views. I humbly request that he be replaced with a juror whose impartiality is beyond reproach.

Your client has a number of Northeasterners on his ignore list, including at least one other prospective juror who has been asked to serve.  Thus, I don't want to go down the road of automatically disqualifying jurors because the defendant has them on ignore.  Not everyone on ignore is even aware that they are on ignore or harbors animus toward the person who placed them on their ignore list.

I'm considering your other argument.  I have a sense that smoltchanov will probably not agree to serve, anyway, so it may be moot.

[cinyc]

My Holiness does not often deign to dabble in secular matters, but if the ecclesiastical hand of the Most Holy Northeaster Catholic Church is required in the adjudication of this trial I shall serve as required.

Thank you for agreeing to serve.  I will inform you by PM when the trial begins or if I sustain an objection to your jury service.

[cinyc]

I have heard back from all of the prospective jurors except Dallasfan65 and Grumps.  I have sent a follow-up PM to those two.  I doubt we will hear back from Grumps, as he hasn't been online since about a month ago.  If I don't hear back by tomorrow night, I will contact their replacements.

The other three potential jurors - Alfred Jones, homelycooking and smoltchanov appear to be willing to serve.

As to smoltchanov, I am not yet convinced of his alleged bias against SomebodyWhoExists, but will allow defense counsel Oakvale to question him about it, if he would prefer to do so.   I suppose I should allow Oakvale and pikachu to question any of the potential jurors if they have any objections, too.  Do either of you wish to do so?

[Oakvale]

Your Honor, if smoltchanov genuinely believes that he can in good conscience and impartially serve as a juror, I will not object.

I have no objection to the other jurors.

[pikachu]

I'm fine with all of the jurors chosen.

[cinyc]

Smoltchanov -

Do you believe that you can in good conscience and impartially serve as a juror in this case?

[smoltchanov]

Yes. Despite stark difference of views noted here. I believe in human's right to have any (except expressly punished by law) views. What i don't believe is a "right" of anybody to impose that views on other people and confidence that only his/her views may be correct (the reason of my dislike of most radicals). But if my impartiality is in doubt - i am ready to be replaced by more fitting person