//------------------------------// // Chapter 13. Judge, jury and executioner. (The lawsuit final.) // Story: The Choice // by Not_available_now //------------------------------// Chapter 13. The judge, jury and executioner.                     Martin waited for the princess to come before they walked towards the courthouse. The rout was the same and so was the nauseating entrance to the building. Teleporting for the second time still gave him a small stomachache. Everything went the same as before. He got cuffed and walked into the filled courtroom and sat down next to Rights.                     “So kid, how is it hanging?” Rights asked laughing.                     “Great. Today I’m hearing if I’m going to jail or not. So yea, I’m great.” Martin said while getting comfortable on his pillow.                     “Don’t worry. The doctor will go to jail. I pulled a background check and he had been arrested for public intoxication multiple times. This guy has a problem from here till the Badlands. And we’ll throw some community service in for good measure. In an hour you’ll be sipping coffee and free.” Rights said while smiling at him. He sat down and shoved a piece of paper in front of Martin.                     “I’ll be sipping coffee for sure.” Martin said while looking over the piece of paper.                     “See, that’s the spirit. Just look over it and say no word.” Rights settled back onto his pillow and waiting for the lawsuit to continue. “By the way. I pulled everything that I could find on this guy, but also the whole documentations of that day. We’re in the clear”                     One of the many doors on the side opened and the judge walked into the room. She  sat down onto the heightened pillow and grabbed the hammer that laid in front of her. She slammed it a couple of times on the wooden desk. “Order. Everypony sit down.” She waited for everyone to settle down and when the room got quiet she continued. “We are here to continue the case of the Equestrian state versus the accused. The defense may start.”                     Twilight stood up and looked one time at her papers, she sighed. “The accused has, in the hospital, said on multiple occasions that he had anger issues. This leads us to believe that this can be chalked up to Anger management issues, rather than wrongfully used medicines. So our adjusted proposed punishment is 1 year of prison and 5 of therapy for his problems.” She breathed in and sat back down.                     Rights stood up. “And do you have any proof for this outrageous accusation?”                     The pony next to Twilight stood up and held an recorder up and clicked the play button. What sounded through the room was a very bad impersonation of my voice. It said that he had a long history of anger management problems. But the thing was that it sounded nothing like Martin’s voice. It was distorted and he had to listen good to even distinguish any words.                     Rights stood up. “I think that that certainly isn’t my client’s voice. The voice is to distorted to recognize who this is, so I can safely say that this pony or human isn’t my client. The doctor is, as of how I see it at the moment, the only suspect. I have looked into the files and the doctor  was drunk on the job and that has cost a life. Even if this didn’t  happened there still is a doctor out there that  treats his patients while intoxicated. This stallion needs to be takes away from a hospital as soon as possible. We propose that the doctor will be imprisoned for 10 years and in prison treated for his addiction. That is my final statement.” And Rights sat down again, feeling quite satisfied.                     “Do the accusers have anything to say for that?” The judge asked Twilight and the members of her party. There came no response. “Then the jury shall discuss the verdict and come back to you in half to one hour.” She trotted of the pedestal and followed the jury into one of the doors in the back.                     “So Saul. How did it go?” Martin asked him after the ponies left the  room.                     “Everything went better than expected. That recording that they came up with was the worst thing that they could have brought in. We’re in the clear. And I aimed high with the sentence so that we can agree with going lower, make us look better.” He smiled a very wide smile and laid back comfortably, waiting for the conviction of the doctor.                     “That is good.” Martin said while sitting down again. He still felt a little bad for the doctor, but he knew that I was a good thing that he was of the streets and wasn’t going back treating ponies. So he could feel a little better about that.                     At Twilight side there was a bit of a separation. Twilight was thinking about getting the sentence for the doctor back to 5 years and the treatment, should he be found guilty. Her associate on the other hand wanted to hit back hard and get the, in his eyes, invading murdering alien into jail and out of Equestria.  So they were having a pretty hefty discussion on what to do next. Twi wanted to keep her friend out of trouble, but her associate wanted nothing like that. He hated any creature that wasn’t a native Equestrian. Which is one of the reasons why he was used often, alongside Twilight, for cases involving griffons, dragons and any other alien that might happen to pop up anywhere in Equestria.                     So after Martin had been drawing a blank for the last 3 quarters of an hour the judge and juries came out of the room. Martin tensed up.                     “Now we’re going to here you’re home free.” Rights whispered in Martin’s ear.                     The judge settled down onto the seat and scraped her throat. “The jury’s verdict is:” One of the mares in the jury stood up and read from a piece of paper: “We find the accused human… not guilty. And the accused mister Acula… guilty of neglect leading to the death of mister Suits.”                     The jury took the word again as the mare sat down. “We have decided that mister Acula will be going to jail for 7 years and will receive treatment for his addiction. The human will go into therapy to find any problems in his mind and will undergo a full medical inspection to prevent any further medicinal wrong doings. This is our final verdict.” She sits down and walks out of the room.                     The wave of relieve that washes over Martin cannot be equaled.