Date: 70 PST (Post Stasis Time).

The courtroom was filled to the brim with members from the Terran Alliance, the rafters and benches packed with all manner of species: a grouping of the reptilian Ritilians, a handful of the ever adorable Hatil, and 3 Schuvva; the rabbit-like newest members to the alliance. Even a single Dunwilian had turned up, the cthulian horror towering over the rest of the galley, the horror of its general egg like appearance muted slightly by the brightly coloured propeller beanie sat atop its head.

Of course there were also Terrans, tens and hundreds of them, all quietly chatting amongst themselves in hushed whispers. This wasn’t even including the number of people watching on the numerous streams being provided through Galnet. The case had taken the members of the Terran Alliance by storm, new precedent being made and heated discussion raging through break rooms and dinner tables across the galaxy.

It all came down to one question: does actuality of a crime matter more than intent?

The entire process had only taken three days, as both defence and prosecution agreed on most things as matter of fact, the only thing left were closing statements. The alleged action had taken place, the victims and perpetrators were known, the only thing to decide was simple. Was this a crime?

The defendant sat in his chair, towering over almost everyone else in the courtroom even in his slouched form. He shifted uncomfortably in his suit, his defence lawyer having correctly determined that having General Bolhut Tacorg in his traditional war uniform would come across… badly. So instead he itched and was uncomfortable in the constricting outfit

The Kur were bipedal white furred canines, standing on average 9 ft tall. Sharp claws protruded from each of their four fingers, matching with their giant fangs that grew from their jaws. Almost entirely muscle, with arms that reached past their knees the Kur were an aggressive militaristic race, generally considered terrifying by most intelligent members of the galaxy.

Well apart from one species. To absolutely zero people’s surprise Terrans found the “Angry goodbois” to be adorable, which had worked in the Kur’s favour after their pacification. The Kur had been just one in a long line of militaristic races who had quickly realised that allying with the insane primates of Earth was a far better long term proposition then going against them.

But before that realisation had been made, the incident had happened.

“Esteemed members of the jury, the facts of this case are simple.” The Terran prosecutor stood as he finished his closing statement, looking around and gesturing broadly as he did so.

“The defendant was in charge of the vessel that had captured two Terrans, a Sgt Catrin Hawkins and a Ltc Eiluned Semyon. We have shown that General Tacorg was ultimately the one in charge of their treatment and safety, as defined under the Geneva agreements of conflict and warfare. We have seen the messages from the chief command demanding results and information from the Terran prisoners. We have heard the testimony of others in his chain of command of the defendant ordering the spiking the prisoners' food with two known poisons, both marked by the Kur for the intense pain able to be caused using them.”

The prosecutor paused a moment to point towards the defence, causing the defendant to instinctively press their ears against their head in a worried motion.

“The defence wishes to claim ‘no harm no foul’. The poisons had no effect on the Terrans so there is no issue? There is a central concept that this legal system is built upon. Mens rea. Most of you won’t have the right translator databases to know the real meaning of that phrase, so let me provide it for you.”

“A Guilty Mind.”

“Being incompetent at committing a crime doesn’t absolve you of the crime. The fact that the poisons used are ineffective against Terran biology has no bearing on the nature of this crime. Remember that if it had been any of the many Terran Alliance species susceptible to these poisons we’d be having a far more depressing and serious discussion right now.”

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“The Jury should remember that this case is about protecting those who might be harmed by such actions, to reiterate that the intent to do harm is more important than the competency to do so. That the simple act of getting lucky doesn’t absolve you of your crimes. Because tomorrow might not end in the same outcome.”

“Tomorrow it might be a Hatil or an uplift, instead of a Terran.”

General Tacorg couldn’t help but give a small involuntary whine as the prosecution finished their statement and returned to their seat. His Terran defence lawyer gave a small reassuring smile as she stood up.

“Don’t worry, I got this.”

There was a moment of silence as the lawyer placed two items on the podium in front of her. She took a moment before unwrapping the first, swallowing the item in two large bites before reaching for the second. A moment passed as she swallowed, before cracking open the can with a hiss of carbonation; downing the liquid in one long chugging motion. She took a moment to suppress the desire to belch out loud, before beginning to speak.

“So that was an entire Kur ship’s supply of the ‘poisons’ given to Sgt Catrin Hawkins and Ltc Eiluned Semyon. For all this talk of ‘poison’ by the prosecution let's actually call them by what they are: Caffeine and theobromine. They were basically given a Twix and a redbull. At no point was anyone at any chance of harm by the actions taken by Tacorg. If anything it made their stay under his care more palatable.”

“Of course, this isn’t entirely true, there were plenty of other things on that ship that could have caused harm, for instance these.”

The Terran took a moment to hold up a small playing card sized packet of spices to the courtroom, the front covered with a smiling cartoon rendering of a Kur, branded with the words “Gijourno’s flavour enhancer”.

“This is a standard seasoning packet from Kur military rations, the same ones being fed to soldiers and prisoners alike. It’s basically salt for the canines with how often it’s used on meals. It also contains enough arsenic to kill every single Terran in this room. These were removed from the meals given to the prisoners. Terran biological information is public knowledge, anyone can log into any federation Galnet node and get any information they need on all forms of Terrans. If my client was trying to hurt or injure the prisoners, or were even ignorant of their biological needs, why remove this from every meal?”

“The prosecution talks about ‘A guilty mind’, yet have failed to provide any proof of this guilt, only conjecture. The defence argues that Mr Tacorg knew about the lack of effect these chemicals would provide, and only provided them in order to technically comply with unlawful and unethical orders from members higher up in the Kur government. People who aren’t here today for diplomatic reasons instead of legal ones.”

“The jury should remember that our justice system is built on a simple principle: Innocent before proven guilty. It’s clear to anyone that this guilt has not been proven.”

Murmurs started again as the defence finished their closing argument. All that was left now was for a jury to make their decision.

—-----------

Facts of the case:

During the Kur - Terran Alliance conflict one of the skirmishes ended with two Terrans being captured, a Sgt Catrin Hawkins and Ltc Eiluned Semyon.

The person ultimately in charge of their welfare was the defendant, General Bolhut Tacorg.

The prisoners refused to divulge information during their confinement, and were generally treated well. This included the removal of lethal seasonings often used by the Kur.

Two weeks after capture, General Bolhut Tacorg was given orders to get information from the prisoners about Terran military capability by “any means necessary”

After this General Bolhut Tacorg ordered their food to be spiked with “painful levels” of Caffeine and theobromine without the knowledge of the Terrans.

An entire fleet's worth of supply of these poisons might be able to kill one Terran.This information on Terran biology is publicly available, but might not be public knowledge.

One day after application of these chemicals, the Terran prisoners were released after General Bolhut Tacorg’s ship was captured by the Terran Alliance military.

The argument of the Prosecution:

The defendant clearly provided the chemicals in order to torture information out of his prisoners after being ordered to take similar actions. The order given to subordinates was specifically the words “painful levels”, and this is the only reason military vessels carry the lethal-to-kur chemicals.

Even though this caused no harm, this lack of damage was accidental instead of intentional, in clear breach of the laws of war.

The argument of the Defence:

The information about Terran biology is available to all sapient species as part of general safety measures to make sure various species don’t accidentally kill each other. The removal of otherwise lethal seasonings suggests the Kur general had knowledge of this.

The actions of General Bolhut Tacorg were “malicious compliance” to an unethical order, providing an order that technically did what he was being ordered to do, with no known harm.

When originally posted, Reddit was asked to determine whether the jury would return a guilty or not guilty verdict.

Jury Verdict: Not Guilty