Jordan got the case very late – two hours before the hearing, he was still sitting in his office not knowing anything. Then he got a phone call from a colleague.
“I was just told about someone who needs an attorney,” the colleague went on after the shortest possible exchange of polite phrases. “Someone else was scheduled to help her, but something unexpected happened, so they are now looking for a replacement. I would go myself but can’t, I have another hearing in about an hour. Anyway, it’s a Flotilla thing. A captain who smashed a small space ship; I was told it’s quite an easy case as the facts are straightforward, she did it and that’s it. Are you interested?”
“Yeah, why not. Yeah, I am.” First, working for Flotilla was not a bad way to pay your bills. Second, quite easy, that was tempting.
Of course the case turned out to be almost the complete opposite of easy; of course nothing was straightforward. Luckily, in addition to paying the bills and anticipating an easy case, Jordan had one more reason for agreeing to do it, and this reason was more important than anything else for him: he really did believe in every defendant’s right to be represented, and everyone meant really everyone, and if someone needed him, that was enough for him to go. Easy and straightforward would’ve been a nice bonus, but hey, principles first.
The little problem was that by the time Jordan got the call, there were only about two hours until the hearing. Two hours was not enough prep time even in the best of circumstances, but – as luck would have it – due to a technical error, Jordan was denied access to some parts of the file. That, in turn, made him feel ill-prepared and nervous even before he walked through the gates.
As he arrived, he was told that before the hearing, he could have twenty minutes alone with his new client, and he was shown in a room where a young woman in Flotilla black was sitting at a table.
She looked like a zombie.
She also looked very young; far too young for being a commanding officer of a space ship.
“Umm, hello, my name is Jordan. I am a lawyer and I am here to take over your representation, because your previous attorney is indisposed,” he introduced himself. “If you agree, obviously, that is.”
There was no reaction. She didn’t even look at him.
“Your name is Eleni, right?” Jordan tried.
No answer; no reaction.
Shit. 19 minutes to go.
It took him two more minutes to make the young woman acknowledge his existence.
As soon as she did, he asked her if she’d been explained everything about what was going on.
“They are all dead,” was her response. Her voice was totally flat.
Shit. And this was supposed to be easy!
At that very moment, the glitch in the system disappeared and Jordan was finally able to access the whole file. And there it was, and it was not just losing a ‘ship. There were pages and pages and pages of documents, and at the end of all that, there were the charges, gross negligence and destruction of Flotilla property, incompetence, cowardice in the face of the enemy and manslaughter.
Five counts of manslaughter: four people and an AI.
Oh fuck.An easy case where a captain smashed a ‘ship, except that the captain was actually a commander, the ‘ship had not been smashed but destroyed by an enemy attack which nobody had – or could have had – foreseen, and there was the wonderful bonus of manslaughter.
But this was not enough for Jordan to give up; no, he actually tried to do his job, absorb as much of the case as possible in the limited time and in the meantime talk to his client about the case, ask her at least the most basic questions, and explain to her what was about to happen and what was the meaning of the hearing and the steps taking place during the hearing.
Eleni did not seem to be listening very attentively. Well, she apparently did not listen at all.
Jordan gave up and went to the most important point. “The judge will ask you whether you want to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. It is important that at this moment, you say not guilty. Can you do that?”
First reaction since she commented on her crew being all dead: “I don’t think so.”
Shit. He expected her to nod or maybe (more likely) show no reaction and then just follow his instructions, but not this.
“Look. If you say anything else than not guilty, you are putting yourself at a great risk of being sentenced without a trial. You don’t want that, I don’t want that, nobody wants that. Your case looks complex and it needs to proceed to a full trial, with a full investigation taking place beforehand. I will work with you to get the best possible result, I promise.” Jordan was close to panicking. He was running out of time; seven minutes to go and counting and he didn’t get anywhere yet, and she was still looking like a zombie.
“I deserve a death penalty,” Eleni said in response. Wonderful.
“You most definitely do not deserve that. Also, our legal system cannot sentence you to death, not for the crimes you are going to be charged with,” he pointed out.
“I think I would like to be shot. Could you make that happen?”
“I don’t think so.” Jordan felt uneasy. This was already the most awkward conversation he’d ever had about a case, and it was not yet over. “The most any court can sentence you to is life imprisonment. And, mind you, putting you in prison for life is not going to bring anyone back to life, or change the past in any way.”
“That is true.” She sobbed.
“I understand.” He didn’t, but that was not important. “You feel guilty about your crew. I get it. But you deserve justice, and Flotilla needs a full investigation of the incident to take place; they need to look into this to see how to prevent this from happening again. You can help that.”
Eleni looked at him but didn’t say anything.
“As I said, I understand that you feel guilty about everything. But there are other aspects of the situation; legal aspects. Feeling guilty is not the same as being guilty before the law. I can explain to you in detail later if you wish.”
She was still looking at him, and she seemed to be quickly losing interest in the conversation.
“Look. If you feel uncomfortable saying not guilty, could you maybe just remain silent when the judge asks? Just don’t say anything.”
The look; no words.
“If you say guilty, you will make things very difficult for yourself. But you have the right to remain silent, and I would like you to use it. Everyone will benefit from that. Could you do that?”
Instead of an answer, she inhaled deeply, then slowly exhaled. Well, that was not a no.
At that moment, Jordan finally remembered a few things from his people skills training ages ago, and he realized what she needed and how unhelpful he had been up until now. If someone is in a state of deep emotional distress, help them find the ground, the rule went, so he tried to do exactly that. He ended up literally holding his client’s hand for a few minutes.
The hearing was close to a disaster from the very beginning. It seemed like Eleni’s attention was elsewhere, and she was somewhat slowed down in her reactions – not enough for the judge to see what was going on, but enough to make him a bit impatient and also slightly annoyed. Oh, what a great job, Jordan thought desperately. Let’s add contempt of court to the pile.
The judge read the charges to Eleni, which, given their nature, took quite a long time. He asked if she had understood. She looked at him with empty eyes and said so; Jordan had serious doubts about the veracity of her declaration. The judge asked Eleni if she understood the possible penalties for the crimes; there was a long silence before she confirmed. The judge asked her about her plea, and after a short hesitation, she shook her head and very quietly said:
“Guilty.”
Jordan’s hand silently hit his forehead. His desperation was at its all-time maximum, and he immediately started assembling a desperate plan how to fix this. There was an argument to be made about her temporarily diminished ability to understand the proceedings, and about the attorney swap that was unexpected and unhelpful, and…
“Mr Jordan, a word,” the judge said at that moment. He now sounded more than a bit impatient. Jordan quickly got up and walked across the room to talk to the judge face to face, thinking about how big a fuck-up this really was when the judge invited him for a semi-private chat.
“Mr Jordan. I have doubts about whether your client has been advised properly.”
Shit. Jordan took a deep breath to say something, then lost it and let go, then took another breath. “Sir, I don’t think my client understands what’s going on. I think she is so badly affected by the events that she needs immediate psychological help.”
“But you did try to explain to her…?”
“I did, Sir.” Jordan outlined his efforts and how it all seemed to fall on deaf ears.
“Yes, your client looks quite unfocused to me,” the judge observed. The fact was that Eleni was still looking like a zombie; a depressed zombie.
“Yes, Sir.” Jordan inhaled deeply again. “As I mentioned, in my humble opinion, what my client needs most right now is the right kind of psychological support.”
“I agree, Mr Jordan, and I will certainly order that. Right. I think I have seen enough today. I won’t accept your client’s guilty plea, I will order the investigation to continue, and in due course I will set a date for a full trial. You don’t have to thank me.” The judge smiled wryly, and that was it.
During his entire career, Jordan had never been more relieved and grateful to a judge than at that moment.