Judgement – The Right to an Attorney
by Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin & Commander Karen Villiers
Post Details
::ON::
Yolanthe had struggled all the way to security, protesting her innocence with every step. They'd thrown her bodily into her cell in the brig to get the field up before she could recover. She'd tested it instantly.
When the headache and the fizzing in her arms and shoulders went away, she'd paced angrily for several hours, snarling at any prisoner who attempted to make conversation and demanding a lawyer regularly, a request that went ignored for the rest of the day.
With her hair white and her skin the colour of buttercream, she'd looked almost human, unitl she'd finally worn herself out, the last few days of little sleep, grief and anxiety catching up to her until she fell asleep and turned back to violet.
"Ibalin."
She was woken by a firm hard voice. Security officers in front of her cell. One woman was half klingon, the other vulcan, both and in the vest version of the mustard yellow uniform. The vulcan was holding handcuffs. The half breed had her phaser out, expecting trouble.
As the bokkai woke, her skin and hair moved back towards yellow, but not the incandescent paleness of the previous day's rage. "What?" she snarled as she sat up.
"Your lawyer's here. Let's go." The Klingon shut off the security field and the vulcan stepped forward. Yolanthe let them cuff her,and lead her out through the checkpoint and into Interview room four, where they made a point of fixing the cuffs to the table. Presumably the lawyer wasn't allowed in till it was safe. She sat back in the chair as best she could, and glared at the table, waiting.
Jeremy Pymm had never intended to specialise in criminal law, but sinec his arrival at Deep Space five those seemed tobe the cases that found their way onto his screen. Petty theft, criminal damage, GBH, anti-social behabviour, D&D, Flying Space-Craft without a licence ... they all seemed to come his way. The latest brief was something of a step 'up' from the routine. An alleged murder.
He had read the file with interest - like most of the station's residents he made the most fo the facilities and had on occasion found his way into the Box of Delights. He hadn't met the owner, but he had seen her, the same for the unfortunate victim of this alleged murder. What made this case doubly interesting was the additional complication of the Diplomatic angle. For Jeremy Pymm this case was a chance to shine.
With a nod to the security officer he sidled into the room and paused for a moment ... they certainly didn't take any chances, he thought!
"Its Ms Ibalin, isn't it?" he asked in his customary polite tone.
Her skin tone lightened noticeably, from a dirty sulphur to a brighter daffodil. But there was nothing flowery about her disposition. They'd sent a man. Scratch that, a boy to do a woman's job. She was doomed. "Yes." Ingrained politeness towards the more delicate sex kept her tone civil. "You can call me Yolanthe."
"I say!" Jeremy said as her skin tone changed. "How do you do that? Never mind," he said trying to stay on topic. Jeremy put down his padd and pulled back the chair, "You seem to be in a lot of trouble, Ms ... Yolanthe," he said as he sat.
She put her head in her hands and let out a deep sigh. She wasn't at home now. She should at least give him a chance before she demanded a proper lawyer. "Its a mess. I didn't touch Klia. And Trellis is a bad as Gabriel - obsessed with Tharek Getal, who didn't touch her either. But I can't tell him differently, so whoever did kill her is getting away." She pinched the bridge of her nose as best she could in the cuffs. She wanted to slam the table, maybe even throw it round the room, but not it front of a man. "So I need you to straighten him out and get him back on the job. Because I want whoever did it. And if he doesn't do it, then I will commit murder."
Jaremy shook his head. "Yolanthe, the evidence is compelling." He turned the padd flat on the table top so that she could see the images - the shape of the wound, and example of the type of blade that could have made it, the trace evidence of DNA, a scrap of clothing, statements about the altercation between the parties and the victim. "If either you or the Cardassian Ambassador were involved in the murder of Klia you would help your case by telling me. I must stress the seriousness of your situation, and encourage you to make a guilty plea in return for leniency. "Was it a crime of passion, or just one in which you are an accessory. If you are protecting someone ... the Ambassador or someone else ... you must tell me, for your own sake," he said patiently.
She stared at him in utter disbelief. "Are you listening to me? I didn't do it. Tharek didn't do it. I don't know where that evidence came from. Because it can't come from us. It can't of done. Now get on my side and get those-" her words dried up as she bit off an insult, "men back doing their job."
"Now, now," Yolanthe, Jeremy said, a little taken aback by her reaction, "there's no need to raise your voice. I can hear you, I can hear what you are saying but a denial means nothing. A case - evidence is being built that can prove your guilt. It's my job to make sure that there is reasonable doubt and I can only do that with your help. Right now the evidence suggests that you and the Cardassian Ambassador are accomplices in this crime - that is the case that the prosecution will make at trial."
She shut her eyes, supressing her frustration and anger. "It shouldn't even get that far. there's no way they could have evidence. Can't you just get some vulcan or betazoid in here to scan my brain or something?"
Jeremy pinched the bridge of hi snose between his thumb and forefigner, "I've just shown you the evidence," he said, "it does exist. Though it points more towards your Cardassian friend than yourself. A mind meld can go some way to establish the truth but it is not always conclusive, individuals can resist, or project lies. In your case you are looking at being charged as accessory to murder."
"So I'm automatically lieing? Is that what your saying?"
"I'm trying to get you to help me build your defence. We believe in innocent until proven guilty," Jeremy said as if explaining the principle to a child, "but the evidence that is being brought against you is starting to stack up. If this comes to court you'll want more of a defence than saying 'I'm innocent' if you're going to convince a jury."
The bokkai blew out an angry snort, but decided to hold her peace for now. "So what do you suggest?"
"What do you know about the circumstances that lead up to the incident? I've read the report from security, but tell me in your own words what happened. This meeting is governed by attorny - client confidentiality, so you don't need to worry about me passing on any details that you may have omitted from your statement."
Through gritted teeth, Yolanthe repeated everything she had told Trellis; that Klia had seen her in the box, kissing the cardassian ambassador, that the little Orion girl had been furious and thrown drink over them, and had run off. "I assume she went back to our quarters. I didn't follow. And thats the last time I saw her."
Jeremy listened and nodded along; he knew where her best bet lay. "What about your friend? Did he speak to her, to Klia later, or see her. I can't stress this enough, Yolanthe, forensics have verified that the wound that killed Klia was made by a blade of Cardassian design, or one similar."
He wanted to help her, she clearly believed in her own innocence, but the evidence spoke, she might not be directly guilty, but there was a stack of fingers pointing at the diplomat which on top of the Bokkai's apparent complicity made her an accessory.
Not content with quelling his frustrations with a pinch to the bridge of his nose Jeremy ran a hand back through his hair which afterwards flopped down again over his forehead. "Yolanthe, this is a long shot. Do you have any enemies who would try and implicate you and your ... 'friend' in this incident?"
She sat back. "I don't think so. I've not been here that long. I don't think I've pissed off anyone here enough they'd kill Klia."
Jeremy rubbed his chin as he thought, "What about someone you might know from elsewhere, or someone that Klia knew? Did she have any boyfriends?"
Again, Yolanthe shook her head. "I've been through this with Trellis. No-one I know about. The only person who she had any issues with since we got here has been me." She scrubbed a hand into her hair, which was now slate grey. "This looks bad, doesn't it?"
He looked at her for a moment then nodded. "It doesn't look good," Jeremy had to agree.
This was a fight she did not know how to win. "What can I do?"
"Volunteering to agree to a mind-meld will help," Jeremy said, "as I said, some people are resistant or can mislead the Vulcan performing it, but they are rare. We back that up with character witnesses ... you can produce people who would do that?"
"Possibly. I get on quite well with a few people. Maybe Colonel Darson would agree. And- " she hesitated, wondering whether or not to include t'Merek. "I catered an event for the Romulan ambassador, her security cheif checked everything and said I was okay, though we had a bit of a falling out since. I think she's probably a no. Mercy Denoublier possible...
"They'll try and present you as accomplices," Jeremy added, "if your Cardassian friend would do the same that might also add weight - a willingness to co-operate to get things resolved goes a long way."
Yolanthe considered Tharek's likely response. "Maybe if I could talk to him, he'd agree." She frowned. "He doesn't have a lot of friends on the station. I think people can't see beyond the Dominion war." she shook her head. "I'll try. What else?"
For his part, Jeremy had no opinion on that. He was twenty six, and the Dominion War, by the time it hit Earth had surpassed prejudices that he was then too young to have ingrained anyway. "Talk to your friend. I can get you the names of people who have arrived in the last three months before you so you can review and see if there are any you know.
"I'll be honest, Yolanthe," Jeremy said pushing both hands through his hair, too distracted now by the ultimate failure of the case to watch the fascinating changes of her skin, "I'm making long shots. It pains me to say it, but I can't guarantee you a win."
"character witnesses are long shots?" the boy's unwillingness to fight was beginning to annoy her now. "What about challenging the evidence? Attacking the prejudice? Finding the truth? I didn't see her for three days and then she turns up on the Promenade? Have they even tried to find out what happened to her then? They've got an easy target and they didn't bother to check if it was the panther or his shadow. Why don't you take a long shot and actually bother to work at defending me!"
"Because you've given me no grounds," Jeremy said, on the edge of his calm. "If you knew your friend Klia was misisng, why did you not try to find her? Why did you not inform the authorities that she was missing? You are *not* an easy target, you are an obvious one, and you did, and are are doing *nothing* to help your case." Jeremy paused and as he got to his feet ran a mand throuhg his hair.
"What you mean by that metaphor I don't know," he said. "I am trying to help you, but you refuse to help yourself."
"No grounds? I didn't do it. I can't tell you how they got all that evidence. I'm telling you they lied, or made a mistake or made it up. I didn't go to security because they're all like gabriel. Biased and out to get who they think is the problem! they don't care about two civilians, who are non-federation citizens at that." her voice was getting louder. "But I looked. I went all over the station. I even got the romulans involved. She wasn't there. Someone got to her first and it wasn't me and it wasn't Tharek! So get off your pretty backside and help me prove it!"
"Ms Ibalin, this attitude is not going to help your case. The rights of all civilians are our concern," Jeremy said tightly. He was trying very hard to be patient but she was making it impossible. "The evidence is what it is. If it was made up, who do you suggest made it up? You've told me you have no enemies here, that have followed you, or that you've made since you arrived. You can't have it both ways."
She stood, fast, sending her chair spinning backwards. So fast that she was jerked to a stop by the handcuffs attaching her to the table with an almost audible popping of muscle. "If you don't believe me, you can't help me." she spat. "Get out, and find a woman who can do the job." She muttered something in her own language, which the translater managed to work out a full second later. "Next time, just stay in the bedroom where you belong."
Jeremy ignored the flush in his cheeks elicited by that last remark. "Like it or not I have been assigned as your counsel, Ms Ibalin," he said as he rose. "You protest innocence but give me nothing to work with. Make a plea, that's your best bet," he added as he retrieved his padd and exited the room, barely keeping his usually very even temper under control.
Yolanthe dropped to her knees as the door whisked shut behind him, and rested her forehead on her arms, against the side of the table. She was deep in the shit. It was a battle she had no idea how to win. She didn't just need help. She needed a miracle.
::OFF::
A JP between
Yolanthe Ibalin
Guilty until proven innocent
&
Jeremy Pym
Defence Counsel
JAG Office. DS5
by Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin & Commander Karen Villiers
Post Details
| Title | The Right to an Attorney | |
| Mission | Judgement | |
| Author(s) | Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin & Commander Karen Villiers | |
| Posted | Sun Mar 06, 2011 @ 9:57am | |
| Location | Security | |
| Timeline | SD37 0700 |
Yolanthe had struggled all the way to security, protesting her innocence with every step. They'd thrown her bodily into her cell in the brig to get the field up before she could recover. She'd tested it instantly.
When the headache and the fizzing in her arms and shoulders went away, she'd paced angrily for several hours, snarling at any prisoner who attempted to make conversation and demanding a lawyer regularly, a request that went ignored for the rest of the day.
With her hair white and her skin the colour of buttercream, she'd looked almost human, unitl she'd finally worn herself out, the last few days of little sleep, grief and anxiety catching up to her until she fell asleep and turned back to violet.
"Ibalin."
She was woken by a firm hard voice. Security officers in front of her cell. One woman was half klingon, the other vulcan, both and in the vest version of the mustard yellow uniform. The vulcan was holding handcuffs. The half breed had her phaser out, expecting trouble.
As the bokkai woke, her skin and hair moved back towards yellow, but not the incandescent paleness of the previous day's rage. "What?" she snarled as she sat up.
"Your lawyer's here. Let's go." The Klingon shut off the security field and the vulcan stepped forward. Yolanthe let them cuff her,and lead her out through the checkpoint and into Interview room four, where they made a point of fixing the cuffs to the table. Presumably the lawyer wasn't allowed in till it was safe. She sat back in the chair as best she could, and glared at the table, waiting.
Jeremy Pymm had never intended to specialise in criminal law, but sinec his arrival at Deep Space five those seemed tobe the cases that found their way onto his screen. Petty theft, criminal damage, GBH, anti-social behabviour, D&D, Flying Space-Craft without a licence ... they all seemed to come his way. The latest brief was something of a step 'up' from the routine. An alleged murder.
He had read the file with interest - like most of the station's residents he made the most fo the facilities and had on occasion found his way into the Box of Delights. He hadn't met the owner, but he had seen her, the same for the unfortunate victim of this alleged murder. What made this case doubly interesting was the additional complication of the Diplomatic angle. For Jeremy Pymm this case was a chance to shine.
With a nod to the security officer he sidled into the room and paused for a moment ... they certainly didn't take any chances, he thought!
"Its Ms Ibalin, isn't it?" he asked in his customary polite tone.
Her skin tone lightened noticeably, from a dirty sulphur to a brighter daffodil. But there was nothing flowery about her disposition. They'd sent a man. Scratch that, a boy to do a woman's job. She was doomed. "Yes." Ingrained politeness towards the more delicate sex kept her tone civil. "You can call me Yolanthe."
"I say!" Jeremy said as her skin tone changed. "How do you do that? Never mind," he said trying to stay on topic. Jeremy put down his padd and pulled back the chair, "You seem to be in a lot of trouble, Ms ... Yolanthe," he said as he sat.
She put her head in her hands and let out a deep sigh. She wasn't at home now. She should at least give him a chance before she demanded a proper lawyer. "Its a mess. I didn't touch Klia. And Trellis is a bad as Gabriel - obsessed with Tharek Getal, who didn't touch her either. But I can't tell him differently, so whoever did kill her is getting away." She pinched the bridge of her nose as best she could in the cuffs. She wanted to slam the table, maybe even throw it round the room, but not it front of a man. "So I need you to straighten him out and get him back on the job. Because I want whoever did it. And if he doesn't do it, then I will commit murder."
Jaremy shook his head. "Yolanthe, the evidence is compelling." He turned the padd flat on the table top so that she could see the images - the shape of the wound, and example of the type of blade that could have made it, the trace evidence of DNA, a scrap of clothing, statements about the altercation between the parties and the victim. "If either you or the Cardassian Ambassador were involved in the murder of Klia you would help your case by telling me. I must stress the seriousness of your situation, and encourage you to make a guilty plea in return for leniency. "Was it a crime of passion, or just one in which you are an accessory. If you are protecting someone ... the Ambassador or someone else ... you must tell me, for your own sake," he said patiently.
She stared at him in utter disbelief. "Are you listening to me? I didn't do it. Tharek didn't do it. I don't know where that evidence came from. Because it can't come from us. It can't of done. Now get on my side and get those-" her words dried up as she bit off an insult, "men back doing their job."
"Now, now," Yolanthe, Jeremy said, a little taken aback by her reaction, "there's no need to raise your voice. I can hear you, I can hear what you are saying but a denial means nothing. A case - evidence is being built that can prove your guilt. It's my job to make sure that there is reasonable doubt and I can only do that with your help. Right now the evidence suggests that you and the Cardassian Ambassador are accomplices in this crime - that is the case that the prosecution will make at trial."
She shut her eyes, supressing her frustration and anger. "It shouldn't even get that far. there's no way they could have evidence. Can't you just get some vulcan or betazoid in here to scan my brain or something?"
Jeremy pinched the bridge of hi snose between his thumb and forefigner, "I've just shown you the evidence," he said, "it does exist. Though it points more towards your Cardassian friend than yourself. A mind meld can go some way to establish the truth but it is not always conclusive, individuals can resist, or project lies. In your case you are looking at being charged as accessory to murder."
"So I'm automatically lieing? Is that what your saying?"
"I'm trying to get you to help me build your defence. We believe in innocent until proven guilty," Jeremy said as if explaining the principle to a child, "but the evidence that is being brought against you is starting to stack up. If this comes to court you'll want more of a defence than saying 'I'm innocent' if you're going to convince a jury."
The bokkai blew out an angry snort, but decided to hold her peace for now. "So what do you suggest?"
"What do you know about the circumstances that lead up to the incident? I've read the report from security, but tell me in your own words what happened. This meeting is governed by attorny - client confidentiality, so you don't need to worry about me passing on any details that you may have omitted from your statement."
Through gritted teeth, Yolanthe repeated everything she had told Trellis; that Klia had seen her in the box, kissing the cardassian ambassador, that the little Orion girl had been furious and thrown drink over them, and had run off. "I assume she went back to our quarters. I didn't follow. And thats the last time I saw her."
Jeremy listened and nodded along; he knew where her best bet lay. "What about your friend? Did he speak to her, to Klia later, or see her. I can't stress this enough, Yolanthe, forensics have verified that the wound that killed Klia was made by a blade of Cardassian design, or one similar."
He wanted to help her, she clearly believed in her own innocence, but the evidence spoke, she might not be directly guilty, but there was a stack of fingers pointing at the diplomat which on top of the Bokkai's apparent complicity made her an accessory.
Not content with quelling his frustrations with a pinch to the bridge of his nose Jeremy ran a hand back through his hair which afterwards flopped down again over his forehead. "Yolanthe, this is a long shot. Do you have any enemies who would try and implicate you and your ... 'friend' in this incident?"
She sat back. "I don't think so. I've not been here that long. I don't think I've pissed off anyone here enough they'd kill Klia."
Jeremy rubbed his chin as he thought, "What about someone you might know from elsewhere, or someone that Klia knew? Did she have any boyfriends?"
Again, Yolanthe shook her head. "I've been through this with Trellis. No-one I know about. The only person who she had any issues with since we got here has been me." She scrubbed a hand into her hair, which was now slate grey. "This looks bad, doesn't it?"
He looked at her for a moment then nodded. "It doesn't look good," Jeremy had to agree.
This was a fight she did not know how to win. "What can I do?"
"Volunteering to agree to a mind-meld will help," Jeremy said, "as I said, some people are resistant or can mislead the Vulcan performing it, but they are rare. We back that up with character witnesses ... you can produce people who would do that?"
"Possibly. I get on quite well with a few people. Maybe Colonel Darson would agree. And- " she hesitated, wondering whether or not to include t'Merek. "I catered an event for the Romulan ambassador, her security cheif checked everything and said I was okay, though we had a bit of a falling out since. I think she's probably a no. Mercy Denoublier possible...
"They'll try and present you as accomplices," Jeremy added, "if your Cardassian friend would do the same that might also add weight - a willingness to co-operate to get things resolved goes a long way."
Yolanthe considered Tharek's likely response. "Maybe if I could talk to him, he'd agree." She frowned. "He doesn't have a lot of friends on the station. I think people can't see beyond the Dominion war." she shook her head. "I'll try. What else?"
For his part, Jeremy had no opinion on that. He was twenty six, and the Dominion War, by the time it hit Earth had surpassed prejudices that he was then too young to have ingrained anyway. "Talk to your friend. I can get you the names of people who have arrived in the last three months before you so you can review and see if there are any you know.
"I'll be honest, Yolanthe," Jeremy said pushing both hands through his hair, too distracted now by the ultimate failure of the case to watch the fascinating changes of her skin, "I'm making long shots. It pains me to say it, but I can't guarantee you a win."
"character witnesses are long shots?" the boy's unwillingness to fight was beginning to annoy her now. "What about challenging the evidence? Attacking the prejudice? Finding the truth? I didn't see her for three days and then she turns up on the Promenade? Have they even tried to find out what happened to her then? They've got an easy target and they didn't bother to check if it was the panther or his shadow. Why don't you take a long shot and actually bother to work at defending me!"
"Because you've given me no grounds," Jeremy said, on the edge of his calm. "If you knew your friend Klia was misisng, why did you not try to find her? Why did you not inform the authorities that she was missing? You are *not* an easy target, you are an obvious one, and you did, and are are doing *nothing* to help your case." Jeremy paused and as he got to his feet ran a mand throuhg his hair.
"What you mean by that metaphor I don't know," he said. "I am trying to help you, but you refuse to help yourself."
"No grounds? I didn't do it. I can't tell you how they got all that evidence. I'm telling you they lied, or made a mistake or made it up. I didn't go to security because they're all like gabriel. Biased and out to get who they think is the problem! they don't care about two civilians, who are non-federation citizens at that." her voice was getting louder. "But I looked. I went all over the station. I even got the romulans involved. She wasn't there. Someone got to her first and it wasn't me and it wasn't Tharek! So get off your pretty backside and help me prove it!"
"Ms Ibalin, this attitude is not going to help your case. The rights of all civilians are our concern," Jeremy said tightly. He was trying very hard to be patient but she was making it impossible. "The evidence is what it is. If it was made up, who do you suggest made it up? You've told me you have no enemies here, that have followed you, or that you've made since you arrived. You can't have it both ways."
She stood, fast, sending her chair spinning backwards. So fast that she was jerked to a stop by the handcuffs attaching her to the table with an almost audible popping of muscle. "If you don't believe me, you can't help me." she spat. "Get out, and find a woman who can do the job." She muttered something in her own language, which the translater managed to work out a full second later. "Next time, just stay in the bedroom where you belong."
Jeremy ignored the flush in his cheeks elicited by that last remark. "Like it or not I have been assigned as your counsel, Ms Ibalin," he said as he rose. "You protest innocence but give me nothing to work with. Make a plea, that's your best bet," he added as he retrieved his padd and exited the room, barely keeping his usually very even temper under control.
Yolanthe dropped to her knees as the door whisked shut behind him, and rested her forehead on her arms, against the side of the table. She was deep in the shit. It was a battle she had no idea how to win. She didn't just need help. She needed a miracle.
::OFF::
A JP between
Yolanthe Ibalin
Guilty until proven innocent
&
Jeremy Pym
Defence Counsel
JAG Office. DS5