Rule of Evidence (37 page)

Paul nodded, keeping his eyes on Commander Carr's. "Yes, ma'am. I don't pretend to know the entire contents of that memo, but I do know what I've told you."

"You're aware of the penalty for perjury?"

Bashir almost jumped up from his chair. "Commander! That's—"

Paul gestured him back. "It's okay. Yes, ma'am. I'm aware of it. I'm not lying. I'm not engaging in wishful thinking. I saw that much of the memo. I had independent confirmation those words were there."

"And who is this other source who can confirm that information?"

"A warrant officer, ma'am. Not a cop. Someone who works in computer support."

"How fortunate your warrant officer's not a cop." Carr leaned back again. "If it's true . . ." She stared grimly at nothing for a moment. "What do want to do, Lieutenant Bashir?"

"Reopen discovery. Get a court order to access that web site. A sealed order so we don't have to worry about the site being purged before we can get to it."

"Judge McMasters isn't going to take kindly to the idea of reopening discovery. We've had final arguments. The members of the court are working on their decisions."

"The judge'll agree to it if trial counsel supports the motion."

"I represent the government, not Ms. Shen."

Paul spread his hands, his face pleading. "You represent justice, ma'am. Don't you? If this evidence disproves the government's case—"

"That's a very big 'if' right now, Mr. Sinclair."

"You promised me if I found any evidence that might exonerate Jen that you'd give it a fair evaluation."

Commander Carr visibly winced. "Me and my big mouth. A lawyer should know better than to make promises. Paul, it's not my job to help exonerate Lieutenant Shen."

"Is it your job to convict someone by ignoring evidence which might prove her innocence?"

Carr's face reddened and hardened. "I don't like being accused of misconduct."

Paul dropped his gaze, took a quick breath, then looked back up at her. "My sincere apologies, ma'am. I didn't mean to imply misconduct. I know you wouldn't . . . I just . . . dammit, ma'am, I really admire you."

Her expression softened, though still plainly aggravated. "And you think I'm letting you down. Or letting down Lieutenant Shen."

"Lieutenant Shen is the most important thing in the world to me, ma'am."

"Oh, for . . ." Carr covered her eyes with one hand. "That's a low blow, Mr. Sinclair. Throwing young love at me. It
doesn't
conquer all, you know." She dropped her hand and gave Paul a rueful look. "But it does conquer my better legal judgment in this case. As far as moral judgment goes, I don't mind telling you I've hated every moment of this case. Sorry, Paul, I've seen it as necessary in light of the evidence. But I haven't enjoyed it. All right. We'll go to the judge and see what we can do."

"First thing in the morning?" Bashir asked, clearly elated.

"No. Right now. Stand by while I get back into uniform. We need to get the wheels turning on this, and authorization to crack that site, as soon as possible." They all stood, but Commander Carr leveled a finger at Paul. "Not you, young lover. This is for professionals. Go home. Or to your ship or whatever. And
don't
breath a word of this to Lieutenant Shen or anybody else. Not a word. If anything gets out prematurely it could cause the judge to rule against this and let Lieutenant Shen stand or fall on what defense she's been able to present thus far. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am."

"Don't thank me. I'm also doing this for myself. I really don't want to convict an innocent person. Lawyers have souls, too."

"Or so it is rumored," Bashir murmured.

"As if you have room to talk. Let's go get Judge McMasters and probably get our ears pinned back. Remember, Sinclair, not a word."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And be prepared to find out this site doesn't hold anything that makes a difference. Or it might hold something that hurts Lieutenant Shen, if you missed a word like 'impossible' anywhere in there."

"Yes, ma'am."
But it's not like I have a lot to lose at this point
. Bashir gestured Paul out, giving him a confident thumbs-up as Paul left.
Now all I have to is wander around until Monday morning, not talking to anybody about this, trying to get some sleep despite everything, trying to not think about it. What was that old Eskimo spell for changing rocks into gold? All you had to do was stare at the rocks for an entire day and never think of walrus
.

In the morning, Paul tried to make it look as if he had indeed slept the night before, but his efforts didn't really convince even himself.
I've looked better than this after a night of partying
. He started for the courtroom, but almost immediately stopped as his data pad beeped urgently.
High priority message. Let's see. Court proceedings postponed for twenty-four hours. Is that good or bad
?

He dialed Lieutenant Bashir's number, but only got the answering machine. The official court number provided no elaboration on the brief message. Court would resume the next day. Assuming it wasn't rescheduled again.

Frustrated, Paul walked to Bashir's offices, but he was told the lieutenant was unavailable. Same for Commander Carr.

If only I knew whether this meant good news or bad news. Or just the postponement of the inevitable
.

* * *

Judge McMasters looked around the courtroom. "This proceeding will come to order. I wish to apologize first to all concerned for the postponement of these proceedings. Matters came to my attention that had to be dealt with prior to the members of the court rendering a verdict."

Paul studied the faces of the members, but he saw nothing there but the same uninformed interest most of the rest of the people in the courtroom were displaying. Jen hadn't looked at Paul since she'd been brought in by her guards, sitting perfectly erect in the posture of someone awaiting the impact of bullets from a firing squad. Lieutenant Bashir hadn't looked at Paul, either, concentrating on something on his data pad and ignoring Paul's attempts to get his attention.

"At the request of both trial counsel and counsel for the defense, discovery in this case was reopened and a warrant issued to access a site believed to contain evidence pertaining to these proceedings which had not previously been disclosed. Lieutenant Bashir?"

Bashir rose. "Your Honor. The web site in question was accessed in the early morning hours yesterday. Based on initial review of the materiels therein, court proceedings were postponed twenty four hours to allow Commander Carr and myself to study the documents in detail and confirm their authenticity."

"It's my understanding that the documents were indeed authentic?"

"Yes, Your Honor."

Commander Carr, until now silent, rose briefly as well. "Trial counsel agrees that at this point in time the documents appear authentic, Your Honor."

Lieutenant Bashir walked out from behind the defense table, holding his data pad. "I would like the documents from that site to be entered into the official record of this proceeding."

McMasters eyed Carr again. "Trial counsel?"

"Trial counsel has no objection."

"Then it is so ordered."

Lieutenant Bashir turned to face toward the members of the court. "If I may, I'd like to ensure the members understand a critical point regarding evidence in a criminal proceeding. All evidence that is 'reasonably available' must be shared with the defendant in order to ensure an effective defense against any charges. That standard is set by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Failure to provide the defendant with evidence which would serve to rebut criminal charges is a very serious matter."

McMasters looked from Bashir to Carr. "I assume this means the documents uncovered do indeed pertain to the issues before this proceeding?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Bashir replied. "They most certainly do. The site contained a number of memorandums, some with attachments, written over the course of the past year by individuals dealing with the office of the Assistant Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Development. All dealt with the status of the Ship's Efficiency Engineering Regulatory Systems, or SEERS. As previously established during this proceeding, SEERS is the new equipment which was installed on the USS
Maury
prior to her last underway period."

Bashir raised the data pad, no longer looking at it himself. "All of those memorandums were warnings from personnel involved in the development and testing of SEERS. Warnings that the system had not successfully passed all of its tests. Warnings that, contrary to the information presented during this trial, SEERS itself posed a threat of causing serious damage to a ship. Warnings to those responsible for overseeing the program that it was not ready to be installed on ships such as the
Maury
."

He lowered the data pad so he could read from it. "I'd like to quote from one memorandum in particular. Quote. Though designed to compensate for system-wide power fluctuations by dampening feedback cycles, test results show a real possibility that SEERS may enter its own rapid destructive feedback loop. Since SEERS controls all," Bashir stopped speaking and looked around. "I'd like to emphasize that. Quote. Since SEERS controls
all
safety interlocks in a system in order to regulate power loads effectively, this creates a situation in which SEERS could very rapidly mismanage power loads and with little or no warning cause near simultaneous—." Bashir paused again, and looked around before resuming speaking. "Near simultaneous destructive failure of multiple engineering components. Unquote."

Paul realized he was smiling like an idiot but couldn't stop. At the member's table, the officers were staring at Bashir with mingled expressions of astonishment and disbelief.

"Let me cite one other sentence a few lines down," Bashir continued. "Quote. Tests indicate the only warning that these power fluctuations will soon reach uncontrollable levels is likely to be when remote elements of the system grid begin reporting widely varying power load states at short intervals. Unquote." Bashir gazed at the trial counsel's table. "May I stipulate for the record that the after power coupling on the USS
Maury
is a remote element in its engineering system?"

Carr said nothing, but Captain Carney leaned forward. "What would be the basis for stating that?"

"The engineering systems manual for the
Maury
, Captain."

"Oh." Carney sat back again.

Judge McMasters, his face looking angrier with every word Bashir spoke, nodded. "Let the record show the after power coupling on the USS
Maury
is a remote element of its engineering system."

Lieutenant Bashir pointed at Jen, whose own expression could only be described as stunned. "The essential basis for the charges against Lieutenant Shen is that
there was no other possible explanation
for what happened to the engineering system on the USS
Maury
. No
possible way
the system could have
accidentally
suffered from near-simultaneous catastrophic overloads of its equipment. But that is
not
true. The documents just now uncovered reveal beyond a shadow of a doubt that SEERS
could
cause such an accident. And that this was known to some officials in the government via official correspondence warning that SEERS was
not
ready to install on ships of the United States Navy. Further, in gross violation of the rules of evidence, these documents were
not
provided to Lieutenant Shen to aid in her defense."

Bashir turned toward Judge McMasters. "Your Honor, in light of the facts I have just described, the defense moves that all charges against Lieutenant Shen be dismissed."

The judge's jaw moved back and forth for a few moments before he answered Bashir. McMaster's eyes were angry slits as he nailed Commander Carr with his gaze.

"Commander Carr. Was the government aware of the existence of these documents prior to this?"

She stood and faced him, standing at attention. "No, Your Honor." To Paul's surprise, Carr's own voice seemed on the verge of shaking with anger. "They were not revealed to me, to my office, or to the best of my knowledge to my immediate superiors."

"Are you aware of how serious this transgression is?"

"I am fully aware of it, Your Honor. I assure you, I intend finding out why this evidence was withheld."

"Oh, I'll help you with that, Commander." McMaster's face wasn't a pretty sight. "Somebody's going to get nailed for this. If it were not for the high respect which your reputation commands I'd be sanctioning you for contempt right now. But I believe your assertion. Defense counsel has moved that all charges against Lieutenant Shen be dismissed. I want to know what you have to say about that."

Carr's face reddened. "If I may have a few hours to consult—"

"
Now
, Commander. The government has had more than adequate time to compile this case. If trial counsel wishes to register an objection, I want it
now
."

Carr looked downward. Paul couldn't read her expression but he could tell her body was rigid. Then Carr slowly raised her head to look back at the judge. "Trial counsel has no objection."

"Let me be certain what the record reflects, Commander. Is trial counsel agreeing these charges were brought in error?"

Commander Carr looked directly at Jen. "Your Honor, I did not personally bring these charges, but had trial counsel been aware of these documents, I would have refused to prosecute this case."

The court room erupted in a whispers and murmurs. The bailiff and Judge McMasters glared around with sufficient menace to quiet the noise almost as soon as it began. The judge raised his gavel. "Then it is the judgment of this court that all charges against Lieutenant Junior Grade Jenevieve Diana Shen are dismissed with prejudice, such judgment to take effect immediately." McMasters pointed a rigid index finger at the masters-at-arms standing at the back of the courtroom. "The court further directs that Lieutenant Junior Grade Shen be released from custody
immediately
. This proceeding is closed. Trial counsel, I want to see you in my chambers in fifteen minutes."