Law & Order: Westchester: The court case

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Who: Nathan Morrow, Gail Collins, ADA Emerson, Paige, Lauren Collins, Moira McTaggert, The Judge
When: Friday, May 5th 2006 Time: Starting at 9am
What Happens: The Court case of Westchester County vs Lauren Olivia Collins



***

"Counsellor, you may cross-examine."

"Thank you, Your Honor." Assistant District Attorney Emerson walked around from his chair, looking down at his notes. "Doctor MacTaggart," he began, "your prior testimony establishes you as a world-class geneticist specializing in the field of mutant abilities. In layman's terms, could you explain Laurie Collins' unique abilities to this court?"

Shifting in the witness stand slightly, Moira nodded slightly. "Certainly. Simply put, Ms. Collins power is pheromone based. Pheromone's are chemicals that influence the behaviour of, normally, the same species." She'd done this kind of thing before, she mused, sipping out of the glass of water in front of her, just not in a while. Stilling the accent would make it easier for everyone to understand her clearly.

Emerson nodded. "Specifically, the preliminary medical report indicates that these pheromones that Ms. Collins produces have an effect on the human body, a number of effects, in fact. Would you say these effects that Ms. Collins is able to induce could trigger an uncontrollable reaction in an unsuspecting subject, Doctor?"

"If by uncontrollable reaction, ye're talking about physical, then aye. But what we've found is that Ms. Collins' mutation only affects people in the actual physical sense. For example, she could cause someone to be afraid. Their palms would sweat; pulse rate would go up, muscles tense for fight or flight. Mentally, however, they are unaffected. So, aye, uncontrollable reaction in the physical sense but they are still in control of their mental faculties."

Emerson cocked an eyebrow. "An uncontrollable physical reaction," he repeated for the judge. "You work with teenagers, Doctor MacTaggart. Would you say that teenagers, by and large, tend to be driven by uncontrollable physical reactions?"

"Objection!" came Nathan's voice from the defence, "Calls for gross speculation."

"Sustained," the judge drawled, "Mister Emerson, please restate the question."

Emerson raised his hands in capitulation. "My apologies, Your Honor. Doctor, is it possible for someone unfamiliar with the nature of Ms. Collins' mutation to be so startled by the effects that they could be driven into a state of panic?"

At that, Moira pursed her lips. "They might be," she allowed. "It would depend, of course, on their mental state and how much there were being affected. Which can be lessened or made worse depending on their proximity to Ms. Collins."

Emerson repressed a smile of triumph. "And Doctor, these pheromones Ms. Collins produces, would they have a greater area of effect if she was exerting herself? Sweating, breathing hard?"

Oh, he was good. "I would say yes," Moira responded but continued. "However, these are things that are affected by air currents as well. Ms. Collins may have been producing in a wider area because she had been exerting herself before, but she can't push it out on people."

"Ms. Collins had been exerting herself," Emerson repeated. "Having recently come from her cross-country practice. Five miles, I believe was said? Even for those athletes in the best of shape, I don't think anyone would be able to complete a trek like that without some heavy breathing and sweating. Thank you, Doctor. No further questions."

The judge nodded and turned to Moira. "You may step down, Doctor."

***

Laurie had been watching the tv screen intently since the trial started, trying to keep calm even when it looked like the jury might be swayed by the prosecution. Paige had been a great help in keeping her calm, having someone else in the room was a comfort, and also a reason to try and keep her powers under control. She'd gone to get them drinks, now that the court was in recess.

Nathan?

Laurie let the thought rest in her head, wondering if he'd hear it at all.

It's all right, Laurie, was the immediate answer. We're on recess, and I'm just- "Coming in the door," Nathan concluded as he walked through the door, giving the girl his best reassuring smile. The cop at the door had given him a thoroughly hostile look, but Nathan had let it pass. You didn't pick fights with the little people.

"Hey." she replied, grinning. "I've been watching you on TV. If I squint, I can even pretend I'm watching Judge Judy."

She turned in her seat slightly, wincing as her butt protested the amount of sitting she'd been engaged in. The seats the courthouse gave it's waiting rooms were not terribly ergonomic or people friendly at all. Still, it could be worse, she could be wearing one of those awful orange tracksuits.

Leaning a bit heavily on the cane, Nathan limped over to sit down beside her. "It's going pretty well," he said. "I've had a couple of nervous moments, but the jury is listening. The prosecution's case is pretty thin, given the evidence."

"You're doing great. She says with her vast experience which includes watching daytime soaps and way to many reruns of Night Court." Laurie replied, trying to go for calm and collected but her voice wobbled a little on the last.

Nathan reached out and laid a hand over hers, squeezing gently. "Remember what I said about the bullshit that is these charges? Those are twelve relatively decent and intelligent people out there on that jury. They're going to see that." This was so colossally unfair, it really was. He couldn't let himself stop to think too much about that aspect, because then he just wound up seething again, and that wasn't productive.

Laurie nodded, standing up and arching her back to get the kinks out before walking over to the door and peeking out. The cop out there glared at her and she sighed, closing the door again. She forced a smile, determined to be brave. There really was no point in worrying so much at this point, afterall. The jury would do what it was going to do and she would deal with it, whatever it was, when it came.

"You know, once I'm out of here, I'm so writing a nasty letter to the newspaper about these guys."

"You should, when you're ready," Nathan said after a moment. "Maybe not to the newspaper, but something like that..." He smiled a bit sadly. "People need to know that their children can be sitting and minding their own business at school and yet wind up in jail on trumped-up charges just because nature gave their genes a twist." Something like Laurie's story would probably have more of an impact than something like Mistra, when it came right down to it. Mistra was a horror. Laurie's situation... all too plausible, and all too close to the bone for any parent.

She thought about it for a moment, before nodding. "I will, although maybe not for a week at least. I think I'm going to be too busy being grounded for lying to my Mom. She might not care that I'm a mutant but she's seriously up on the 'communication and honesty' side of things."

***

Never setting foot in a courtroom again, Nathan thought, his expression studiously neutral as the last of Laurie's friends was dismissed from the stand. It wasn't going badly. Between the results of Paige's experiment and the videotape, the jury was starting to doubt the prosecution's theory about what precisely had happened in the cafeteria that day. Nathan supposed he should be glad that the case had drawn such a reasonably serious and thoughtful group of people. They weren't rushing to make up their minds, which was making him a little nervous because really, the prosecution theory was full of shit, but they were listening with open minds. It could have been a lot worse.

He had been sticking rigorously to the letter of the rules in terms of courtroom behaviour and the like. Nothing showy, nothing dramatic. Besides the fact that he was a rank amateur when it came to actually trying cases, he had a certain suspicion that any sort of flamboyance on his part would be counterproductive. At best, it might help turn the case into a media circus, and that wouldn't be good for Laurie even if it turned out in the best way imaginable. At worst, it would turn the jury off. Just because they were thoughtful didn't mean they couldn't be swayed by their emotional reactions. Best to avoid the minefield completely.

Although, getting the one cop to trip over his own tongue and sound like a raving bigot without the slightest basis of objective evidence for his opinions regarding Laurie's guilt or innocence had been terribly entertaining. Nathan thought Emerson had been just the tiniest bit chagrined over having called the man to the stand in the first place.

He looked down at the papers on the desk in front of him and took a slightly unsteady breath as he realized that yes, that was the end of his witness list. Unless he wanted to call anyone back? Moira, maybe? No, they'd established what needed to be established there...

He'd done what he could.

"Counsellor, do you have any further witnesses?"

"No, Your Honor," Nathan said quietly. "The defence rests."

Now he just had to come up with the world's most kick-ass closing statement. Possibly a little drama might be called for after all.

***

Gail Collins wiped her hands against her skirt again. It was just nerves, she told herself. Mister Morrow was presenting an amazing case in her daughter's defence - her defence! As if she'd done something wrong, just by being born the way she was.

Maybe I should have expected this, Gail thought to herself. If I'd been a better mother, I could have planned for this, expected something like this would have to eventually happen...

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nathan glance at her, and offer a reassuring smile. But Gail could only see the empty seat next to him, the seat where her daughter should be, if this were a normal trial. But no, they had said her mutation made it "problematic" for her to be present. Nathan had argued, but the judge had been intractable. He was a good man, Gail thought, to take the case pro bono and argue so passionately.

She'd done her checking, of course. It was when she saw his car that everything clicked. One of the ones she was used to seeing driving past the house she'd lived in for fifteen years now, right down the road from that school. He obviously worked there, or lived there, or both. Gail repressed her immediate reaction to the thought of the school, wiping her hands again.

When - if - her daughter could walk out of that jail, and if - when - this was all settled, she promised herself she would have a long talk with Charles Xavier.

Across the divider between the lawyers and the gallery, Nathan looked at Gail and smiled. And somehow, she felt confident. Less nervous. Certain everything would be all right.

"Mister Morrow," she heard the judge say, "You may present your closing argument."

***

Assistant District Attorney Emerson squared up the papers on his desk as the jury made their way back into the courtroom. The requisite "all rise" and "be seated" passed, and he wagered a glance at Nathan at the desk across from him. He'd actually felt some empathy for the defence counsel - trying to request a mistrial on the grounds that Laurie wasn't being allowed to face her accusers due to her mutant power, only to have the motion denied due to the nature of the arraignment. Sympathetic though he might be, Emerson hadn't graduated fourth in a class of four hundred for nothing. Any case he'd ever lost had been lost fairly, no technicalities in the bunch.

"Has the jury reached a verdict?" The judge asked, a bored tone in his voice. The jury foreman, a conservatively dressed young woman nodded as she passed the folded paper to the bailiff.

"We have, your honor."

"What say you?" The judge looked at the paper, face still frozen in that expressionless void between boredom and complete apathy.

"In the matter of Westchester County versus Lauren Collins, we find the defendant not guilty."

The sigh of relief from the defence was almost palpable. Emerson stood as the judge rapped his gavel to signal the end of the case. With a polite nod to Nathan, and one to Laurie's mother, he picked up his attaché and left the courtroom.

***

The walk to the front door of the courthouse had not seemed long when she first entered the building. But now it seemed to stretch out forever as she walked towards it. She could feel her mother on one side, and Nathan and Paige following close behind.

Laurie pushed open the doors and raised her face to the sunlight, drinking it in as a flower might, ignoring the reporters clamouring to ask questions. She didn't care about them, didn't care what they wanted to know. All she wanted, all she needed, was this.

"Is it real?" she asked.

"You'd think you'd been in there forever," Nathan said with a slight smile, putting a hand on her shoulder to guide her through the crowd. The reporters were reluctantly to move out of the way, but he found a way through despite their insistence. "No comment, no comment, and no comment," he said cheerfully to them.

"Well, I hadn't really thought till now that I wouldn't be." Laurie replied, and then looked at Nathan sheepishly. "Not that I doubted your abilities for a second but those cops seemed awfully confident I was going to jail for good."

The sun felt good, and while the crowd made her nervous and shy, Nathan's hand on her shoulder gave her something to focus on. She really didn't want her power manifesting in a crowd like this. Even if she knew now it only affected people physically, she also knew it would still give people the willies.

"Well, none of them have law degrees, do they? And their knowledge of mutation is generally taken from Friends of Humanity literature, so they're a little lacking in that department too," Nathan said with a very bright smile for a reporter who refused to move out of their way. The man blinked, then backed away.

Laurie smiled brightly as they got to the pavement at the bottom of the stairs. There were still reporters fluttering around but they seemed to have taken the hint that they weren't going to get a statement today. She waited for her Mum to slide into the car before she got in herself.

"You're right." she replied, continuing the conversation as she buckled herself in. "I can just imagine the looks on their faces right now. Is it wrong that I'd really like to have had a photo of them when they heard I'd gotten off?"

Nathan smiled almost beatifically and leaned closer to the window, locking eyes with Laurie. Telepathically, he slipped an image into her mind, of shocked-looking police officers standing outside the courtroom.

"Funny, no?"

Laurie grinned, leaned forward and planted a feather light kiss against his cheek before sitting back, a soft blush creeping up her neck. "Thankyou, Nathan. For everything."

"You're welcome, kiddo," Nathan said warmly as he straightened. "Now, go home. I have to answer a couple of questions here before these nice media people tear me limb from limb."

"Don't forget, you've got to come for the celebration dinner!" Laurie replied, sitting back as the car started to pull away.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," he assured her with a wave. Putting on his best professional smile, he turned around to face the reporters. I am in hell...