Divination (Joker x Batman x OC)

Chapter 93

No one left the courtroom as the jury went to deliberate. The entire city expected the deliberations to be completed quickly. They would all go to the jury's deliberation room and emerge in less than three minutes to deliver their unanimous vote. But five minutes passed, then ten, then thirty, then an hour.

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"What the hell is taking them so long?" Bruce asked the television screen as Alfred placed a drink on the table in front of him.

"They are deliberating," Alfred answered.

"Yes, but what is there to consider?" Bruce went on. "They've been in there over two hours!"

Adriana walked into the living room, still a bit surprised that she had fallen asleep, given the circumstances.

"What's going on?" she asked, after hearing Bruce yelling at the screen.

"The deliberations are taking longer than expected," Alfred said, calmly.

"Oh," Adriana said and sat down.

Bruce was shaking his head, looking at the screen wordlessly as news reporters in Washington, D.C. came onto the screen interviewing experts.

"Gotham's trial of the Joker is the first of it's kind in American history," a woman said. "The trial has been expedited and has reached deliberations in just under three weeks. I'm here with Percy Meinhard.."

"This makes no sense," Bruce said and looked at Adriana when she didn't reply.

"Yeah.." she agreed and pretended to be paying attention to the interview on the screen.

"Great question," the man said to the woman interviewing him on TV. "At this point none of us can be sure of the outcome, but if a guilty verdict is found, we have heard that Gotham officials would also like to proceed with enforcing the sentencing as soon as possible."

"You mean capital punishment," the woman said.

"Yes," he asked. "At arraignment, the plea made was 'not guilty by reason of insanity' but the evidence is staggering. At this point it is up to the jury. Gotham's Joker has numerous capital offense allegations, many of them confirmed on video. At this point there is no doubt that this man is a criminal of the worst kind."

"So, what you're saying is he likely won't spend much time on death row?" she asked.

"We can only speculate, as outsiders," he said. "But generally, inmates are given years on death row. This is to ensure that we reduce the chances of executing someone innocent. There is ample time for appeals, locating new evidence, and more. But in this case...from what I am hearing there are at least eighteen video recordings of this criminal actively engaged in homicide."

"So, appeals aren't likely," she said.

"Absolutely not," he answered. "Of course, the accused's legal team may attempt it, but at this point I am not sure it would even be worth it."

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"We have seven guilty votes," a juror said.

"And five of you refuse to vote," another said.

"I don't know...I mean I know he's guilty but-"

"There! Eight guilty vote. Now...you four-"

"Man...let her finish," another juror said, defending the woman who had been cut off.

"Fine, go ahead," the impatient juror said.