Kurt_Steiner said:
this is actually quite true XD looking forward to your piece !
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this is actually quite true XD looking forward to your piece !
Trial and Error Part 1
An Inter-Season Showcase Bonus by canonized
An Inter-Season Showcase Bonus by canonized
Editor's Notes said:
Day 1: Motion to Suppress
“Your Eminence!” Antonio cried out immediately spurring to his feet. It didn’t even bother him that the stunning percussion of the afternoon sun filtering through a window fan flashed into his eyes. The diligent mayor of the city had made it a priority of his campaign that energy would be a commodity not wasted in The City on the Hill and had ordered the cooling systems all over Boston to be replaced by energy-efficient ones. Like any American colonial institution, it was taking months to accomplish. In the final hurrah of Summer, the September afternoon was unforgiving enough to make Antonio Jimenez, his partner Isabella De La Cruz, the District Attorney Nia Obidos, and Judge James Cardinal DeWitt break out into a sweat. The only one not languishing in the heat of the day was the pallid defendant who sat in his chair like a marble weight.
“I’m sorry, but I see no grounds to suppress the search; the search will stick,” Judge DeWitt grunted as he jostled in his seat, “I found no evidence that the police committed any—”
“There were no exigent circumstances,” Antonio interrupted forcing a grunt from the old magistrate—apparently, this was not an uncommon occurrence with this particular defense attorney in this Room. “What’s more: there was no possibility of a search incident to an arrest here; my client was arrested at a friend’s house borrowing sugar for morning tea.”
“Mr. Jimenez,” the Judge began to take a sterner tone in his voice, “the police were told by Miss de Fronsac that your client had drugs in the closet—”
“Yes,” Antonio interrupted once again, “but she had no authority to allow the police to search his closet. She obviously was mistaken when she thought he raped her the previous night; she was free to leave at any time after she woke up; there was no crime here, your Eminence!”
It was then that Nia Obidos stepped forward from behind the desk they had assigned for her and sliced her way to Antonio’s side as if interrupting him merely by the swiftness of her steps. “The police acted in good faith, your Eminence. We heard from Officer Schenkhuizen just a few minutes ago that they had good reason to think Miss de Fronsac had been raped and were responding to her 911 call—“
“The police secured Miss de Fronsac, your Eminence, and they could have secured the building—they needed a warrant to search that closet!” Antonio fired back half turning towards the district attorney before facing the judge again. “We heard from the testimony of Officer Schenkhuizen himself that when his team arrived there, they secured her and called in to arrest my client. If they needed to search the apartment because of what Miss de Fronsac said, fine, but that’s for a judge to decide, not the officer. The 911 call only granted them entry, not a search.”
“Your Eminence,” Nia’s dark eyes flashed forcefully as she spoke, “this man murdered three women and put them into his walls, if it weren’t for the police, maybe four—”
“Alright, alright,” Judge DeWitt sighed audibly, “I’ll hear oral arguments to the motion tomorrow at ten—”
“Come on, judge, you know this is classic Fourth Amendment—”
“You forget, Mr. Jimenez, that the Fourth Amendment applies only to North American Colonials; your client is registered as coming from London,” Judge DeWitt boomed back from the bench.
“Yes, but both Spain and the common custom of old England have had Bills of Common Rights for hundreds of years,” Antonio replied more calculably, “and insulation from unreasonable searches is a central tenet for all of us.”
“But this is an ecclesial court, Mr. Jimenez, a strategy your firm chose before finding out about Officer Schenkhuizen’s testimony. We are not bound here by the jurisprudence of the Empire. Oral arguments,” Judge DeWitt huffed, “at ten,” before slamming his gavel.
--
“What the hell was that, Isabella?” Nia asked in the small elevator, “he murdered three people!”
Isabella looked back at her counterpart as best as she could, but she could already feel a helplessness building up in her chest stifling any air from responding. She was suddenly regretting letting Antonio stay to talk with the client. After being assigned the case by the local magistrate, she had spent hours with the defendant and she had hoped to take a break today by letting Antonio take care of any other details; but now, with Nia looking at her the way she was—this was worse than being stared down by that killer.
“I’m sorry, Nia—”
“Sorry?” Nia was still angry. Although she did not raise her voice, Nia’s long dark hair shifted along her suit jacket every time her head jostled with expression as she spoke and her finger stabbed the air with each syllable. “That’s not good enough, Isabella. We’ve been through the Scarlet Academy together—even the campus in Los Angeles—and I don’t remember them teaching us to use cheap tricks like this.”
“Cheap tricks?” and here Isabella straightened herself up and pursed her lips with some indignation, “Nia, this is what I had to do—to go with anything less would be malpractice!”
“Oh don’t give me the whole ‘I’m just doing my job’ spiel, Isabella,” Nia shot back turning away from her and crossing her arms stiffly, “You’re arguing to let a man who killed three people walk. I really wonder how you can sleep at nights.” Only the ding of the elevator doors saved Isabella. Nia walked out onto her floor without a goodbye.
--
“How’d it go?” Sweet asked while putting some of his papers away. Antonio nodded his head indicating it wasn’t exactly what they had hoped for, but things were still viable. Isabella refused to acknowledge the youngest partner to the firm and merely went to her office. “That bad, huh?”
Antonio sighed while crossing into his own office; he managed a shrug to the younger man before half slamming the door behind him. Sweet was hoping to leave the two of them alone, but he needed to tell Antonio something. He knocked on the senior partner’s door quietly. For a second there was no response, but finally a “come in,” made its way through the cracks of the old-fashioned wooden office door.
“I did the research you asked me for on Madeleine de Fronsac… the witness on your case… I think I might have found something interesting…”
--
“So why an ecclesial court?” Rodrigo asked while swirling his iced tea with his straw. The jingle of the ice cubes rotating in the glass matched the gentle piano strokes across the floor and the soft chatter of the Bostonian elite. The young man waited for an answer but after not receiving one for almost a whole half a minute, he raised his eyes to the preoccupied district attorney to his right. “Nia?”
Nia moved her eyes to her young date’s direction before flashing an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry… I guess trying to beat that motion tomorrow is just—”
“You don’t need to explain,” Rodrigo replied while taking another meek sip out of his drink. “I was the one who told you that we should cancel tonight…”
“No,” Nia replied back gently with her tanned hand sliding over Rodrigo’s, “I wanted to do this. My office will get me what I need—I just needed a break from the work otherwise I don’t think I can manage tomorrow’s arguments.”
“Are you sure you just don’t want to see Isabella at home?” Rodrigo grinned at her.
“And there’s that,” Nia admitted with a smile. “It’s not that I regret being room mates with her… but it’s hard to keep it professional when… when it’s about something like this.”
“I understand,” Rodrigo whispered comfortably. His hand rolled stealthily on the table and caught Nia’s palm where it was; he intertwined his fingers with hers.
“You know,” Nia smiled playfully, “It would help if you didn’t order iced teas all the time. You make me feel so dirty dating someone younger.”
“Only four years younger!” Rodrigo protested with a laugh, “I could always order a scotch—”
Nia lowered her face and scowled at him. “But anyway,” she dismissed it, “they chose an ecclesial court because it was obvious at the time,” and here she corrected herself, “and it still is… that Mr. Woodhouse is guilty of the murders. Since ecclesial courts have always given lighter sentences than secular courts since the Middle Ages—especially now that the Death Penalty is never permissible in ecclesial courts, they thought they could get a reduced sentence by bringing the case before Cardinal DeWitt.”
“And this motion to suppress?” Rodrigo asked—it was obvious that he was no lawyer, but he listened to his date’s words like a bee collecting nectar.
Here, Nia sighed and Rodrigo could feel her grip on his hand slacken a little. She looked away for a moment at her glass of vodka tonic before saying quietly: “The truth is that the officer screwed up. Office Schenkhuizen should have secured the premises and waited for a search warrant.”
“But he was responding to that young lady’s 911 call about being raped on the scene.”
“Which didn’t turn out to be true—but even then, since Mr. Woodhouse was not in the apartment, they couldn’t search the house once they secured what they were in there for: the girl.”
“And because of this,” Rodrigo tried to put it all together reasonably, “this sicko might go free?”
Nia shrugged. “We’ll see… they thought they could get something good out of the ecclesial court, but these courts aren’t bound by the jurisprudence of the Empire.”
Rodrigo slowly nodded and intensified his hold on Nia’s hand. “Well… when you win your motion tomorrow I’ll drink with you to that.”
Nia smiled and landed a kiss on the young man’s cheek.
--
Day 2: Oral Arguments (coming soon)
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ColossusCrusher said:Sorry, but luck was made to be pushed.
back to the content commenting shall we ? XD
I prefer Boston Legal myself.
DENNY CRANE........
Ahem, normal transmission is now resumed.
DENNY CRANE........
Ahem, normal transmission is now resumed.
Davout said:
Haha , I liked the old school no-frills lawyering
RGB: ROFL we'll get to that in Season III I hope har har har
Mmm, courtroom dramas... let's see... Matlock!
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Er...
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No, ... try again... Ah, I know! Shark!
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Er...
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No, ... try again... Ah, I know! Shark!
Dear me, ecclesiastic courts in modern times? Spain is apparently in dire need of a French revolution and a Napoleon.
Disgusting...
No mention either to the strappado or pulley nor the aselli or water torment nor the iron maiden or, what it's still worth, the pendulum.
And worse still...
A kiss!
This Canonized is going nuts and becoming a lascivous being.
So I return in disgust to my hareem of half naked beauties, to be surrounded by their delicate and lustful female forms.
What a cover to say that I'm still fighting with my idea about the promised tale...
No mention either to the strappado or pulley nor the aselli or water torment nor the iron maiden or, what it's still worth, the pendulum.
And worse still...
canonized said:
A kiss!
This Canonized is going nuts and becoming a lascivous being.
So I return in disgust to my hareem of half naked beauties, to be surrounded by their delicate and lustful female forms.
What a cover to say that I'm still fighting with my idea about the promised tale...
"Confessions of a harem guardsman"?Kurt_Steiner said:What a cover to say that I'm still fighting with my idea about the promised tale...
Murmurandus said:Mmm, courtroom dramas... let's see... Matlock!
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Er...
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No, ... try again... Ah, I know! Shark!
haha I've only seen one episode of Shark , actually . Maybe i'll start watching that too .
Grubnessul: Ecclesial courts are a blessing considering the Imperial courts are quite harsh on criminals XD
Kurt_Steiner: ROFL ! something wrong with a kiss now ? XD
Grubnessul: I can hear the music now =(
Murmurandus XD
ROFL This is what I get for absenteism XD Being the bad guy in a murder case!
I only hope Antonio and Isabella can get good old Mr. Woodhouse off easy!
I only hope Antonio and Isabella can get good old Mr. Woodhouse off easy!
English Patriot said:
ROFL indeed XD ! Had to provoke that somehow XD
ColossusCrusher: - merely shakes his head - XD
But its so... so... medieval >.<
Being the dominant power has left Spain without some of the more important legal developments in continental Europe we've had since the French revolution it seems.
Being the dominant power has left Spain without some of the more important legal developments in continental Europe we've had since the French revolution it seems.
Grubnessul said:"Confessions of a harem guardsman"?
Nope, as the guardsman had to get rid of en essential part of the body to be in the harem...
canonized said:
Now it's when I go into too excessive details and got myself lost... no, thanks...
Grubnessul said:
Haha well it's definitely not the EU i'll give you that XD XD
Kurt_Steiner: ROFL ahh XD Hence Murmy's little pun
I was more talking about the civil law system and codification, but yea, I have my doubts on the human rights in Imperial Spain...