Outsmart (G/T)

Witness

-when your only knowledge of how trials work is a simulation five years ago and reading to kill a mockingbird but you go for it anyway and sound uneducated-

The judge bangs his gavel again to quiet us, but I never let out a sound. I barely hide my smile as he asks, "Did the court hear you correctly, Mr. Cirn? We have audio and video files streaming currently."

He pauses, bright red. "Yes, you heard me correctly and I apologize." I look over to the jury, definitely with more giants than humans, probably as off balanced as legally allowed. The few humans in the crowd, however, are absolutely livid, while the giants don't look as bothered. Fantastic.

"Moving forward, we have a witness's account for the prosecution." Laurie steps up.

"I lived with the current prosecution  and defendant, and they've always had conflict since we found Nolan. I didn't see the full picture, but the only people in the house were Seth and Nolan, so unless Nolan is an incredible actor who hurt himself, Seth must have hurt him," she explains.

"We have evidence here," my attorney pulls up the screenshot for everyone to see. "Of a screenshot on iMessage implying that the two were together during the time in which the crime took place."

"That is correct," says Laurie.

"And another picture here taken short after the crime, of a bruise on the victim's arm, possibly from the suspect. We've taken fingerprint and other DNA tests on the clothes and arms of Mr. Queen, showing a positive result of DNA from Mr. Cirn."

"Objection!" Seth's attorney shouts. The judge has him proceed.

"My client was carrying the potential victim in order to get to the location. This is no evidence of abuse," the attorney objects.

"Overruled. Tests were ran in the hand pattern, showing proof there may have been a fist wrapped around the victim, the right hand of our suspect," the judge responds, brushing it off. He only did it once and unclenched immediately, so if they can find DNA that light, I'm sure to have this in the bag, as long as the jury's on my side.

I hope the jury is on my side.

-

We come to a brief conclusion after a couple of objections to the evidence, all overruled due to traces of DNA here and there. The jury goes to elaborate and conclude the trial, taking at least a half an hour. In the time, I think of what will happen if they put my own evidence against me, which is likely in the 3:7 human to giant ratio of the jury. I've put up my own case against myself. I broke into the house of two giants, neither of which consented at first, and in the end, I did thieve from them.

I weigh out what I know about charges. Assault charges upon a human can cause up to 15 years in prison and up to a $500 fine, while theft is no more than a year, but up to $1500 as a fine. I ate probably $2 of food at the most, and that's a stretch since I was there for about a month and ate only once a day, and very little even then.

Their monthly home payment is probably $1000, or around there. I didn't technically live in their house as a resident, but in the walls, and I obviously didn't take up space. I can't pay $1000, but I could possibly scrape out $500 in a few months' time. After all, I did only half-live there.

The jury begins to regroup after the meeting, ready to declare their stance. The judge asks, "Have you come to a conclusion?"

"Yes," a male giant responds. "Is it possible for us to make a strange declaration?"

"It has to be one person charged."

"It is. We declare the suspect guilty of all charges." I sigh in relief, automatically loosening up. The rest of the court, save the jury, begins  to leave, when the judge bangs his gavel again.

"What was your claim that you found strange?" the judge asks.

"We'd also like to charge the victim guilty of theft." I tense up again. "He's admitted to the crime."

"Very well. Seth Cirb, I hereby sentence you to seven years in prison with a $200 fine. Nolan Queen, I sentence you to 30 days in prison with a $20 fine. You will be charged as a minor."

"Twenty dollars?" Murmurs repeating this ripple throughout the court. Why so low?

"You've basically stolen nothing, their lives have been relatively uninvaded besides the case," the judge explains. I breakdown. I have a criminal record. Yes, it's small, but I'm still a criminal and I have to explain that for the rest of my days.

The court clears out as I'm prepared to head to the border.