She said "We still have you on enough to put them in the ground." I nodded an let her leave. I fucking knew it! When the trimmed down list was given to us, it was now only 37 counts of homicide, 8 of attempted homicide, 31 of extortion and 1 of grand larceny, 1 of kidnapping and 1 of breaking and entering. That was a major victory in itself. I showed it to them. Ghoststrike's charges were unchanged as no one asked for his to be looked at. Out of mercy, I showed him how to file a motion to dismiss the charges. The judge was not done with the list either. Because of the shoddy work done on some of them, it was cut down further directly from the bench. It was now 28 counts of homicide, 4 of attempted homicide, 11 of extortion and 1 of grand larceny, 1 of kidnapping and 1 of breaking and entering. The judge also allowed another two days to send over the revised indictment for all three of them. Ghoststrike was not as lucky as his argument was seen as weaker. It was still cut down a substantial bit. It was still likely to get the death penalty for all three of them. I had to pour over all the evidence.
I had to argue and shed enough doubt on the case to stop a guilty verdict from the jury. That was much easier said than done. We were back in court to pick out the jury members for the trial. I wanted a jury full of morally gray people. The crown prosecutor and judge stopped me from having my way. I still got three picks out of the twelve jurors. I liked that. The very next day was the beginning of the case. It was televised and journalist from all over the country were in attendance. They were there because this was the first trial for a villain in decades. Usually, it was the goons of the villain that get caught and there is nothing that sticks to them. Even if a hero apprehends them, they escape the holding cell or jail by the time they get put on trial. The security of the police station beefed up and were staffed by royal agents. They were not going anywhere. All three members of the Green Ninja Trio were there. Ghoststrike was still intent on representing himself. The first day consisted of all the indictments being read out for the court and the crown prosecutor making her case. She was pretty good.
The next day, I was able to give the case for Quickflash and Redstroke. I took my time breaking down why these two were, if not innocent, not able to be proven to be a guilty party to these crimes. "I will show you that all these claims made by the crown prosecutor against my clients are on shaky footing and no reasonable person could believe them." I concluded. I then sat down and Ghoststrike took the floor. He was defiant and told the court that he would fight all the charges to the very end. "I am not guilty." he said as he sat down. There was a silence full of tension before the judge called for the prosecutor to go first. There was a bunch of evidence that was presented in the court room over the next few days. Pictures of the victims with expert testimony from a medical examiner. Apparently all the kills were cleanly and precisely executed. A single slash to the throat was always the killing blow. There were a few sloppily written contracts that apparently were seized from other criminals. I was able press doubt on the examiner by asking if any weapons were found at the crime scene.
