MapleSAP Special: Hackers
Part 7: legal death warrants vs. right to life

Alysha Erickson, 15, former player of the Renfrew Grasshoppers soccer team and pureblood,
was arrested on Friday by police while on her way home from rehab.
She was held overnight at the Marlon Jail where she phoned her lawyer Mr. Cheung.
He called us to a meeting at the firm’s office where he gave us the bad news.

Over the weekend, Mr. Cheung contacted the Kerning City Police and obtained the papers explaining Erickson’s arrest.
The main reason the documents provided was a warrant put out at Josef and Mary-Anne Erickson; Alisha’s parents.
The warrant was a citizen’s request death warrant against a hacker.
“This doesn’t make sense,” Cheung said. “In Kerning City or Yazhou County, a hacker cannot be arrested unless they actually commit a crime using their hack powers. In this case, the death warrant that Mr. and Mrs. Erickson had issued against their daughter is invalid,”
Throughout the week, the attorneys made repeated request to the KCP offices throughout the city for copies of the warrants (the death warrant and the arrest warrant), and the arrest reports.
Mr. Cheung dialed the KCP’s main office in downtown.
“Hello, this is Mr. Cheung of Bluebird Associates, I am calling for the 35th time to request all legal documents related to the arrest of Alysha Mae Erickson…Put me through to legal affairs then! You are not authorized then? Then connect me to someone who can lah! Inspector Abe? Mr. Abe, this is Cheung of Bluebird Associates. I am requesting legal documents in relation to the arrest of Alysha Mae Erickson! Maple name is exactly as her civillian name!”
There was a pause. “Yes, yes, I need copies of both warrants and of the arrest report. We have fax machine here- Your fax machine broken? Then have it fixed!”
The middle aged man clenched his fist and squeezed the phone tight. He sat there looking intensly into the computer screen.
“The email you sent me did not have authorization code! They just denial messages! You listen to me, young man! I can press charges against KCP for not providing me the legal documents do do my job as a lawyer and represent my client!”
The argument on the phone went on for about 20 minutes, then…
“You say you give me document in court? At Ms. Erickson’s hearing? You damn well better!” and he slammed the phone on the base. Mr. Cheung got up, and brushed his hands down his gray business suit, straightening out the wrinkles.

“They do this all the time when it comes to hackers, Azns, noobs and even magicians. The police and their prosecutors don’t want the defendant’s lawyers to have the documents and exhibits they need to represent them in court. I try many times to ask for papers from the police and they refuse or tell lies. Gross misrepresentation indeed.”

At the end of the weekr, the hearing is held at Kerning Regional Court. The Bluebird Associates spent the past few days gathering up their own evidence such as Alysha’s records from the hospital, rehab, and the hackiimun dasha.
Mrs. Pei, Alysha’s school counselor also joined us as we filed into the small courtroom. For her, Malon, and most of us, this is an unsettling experience.
A man once said in the past that ‘laws were made to be broken.’ No doubt in cases like these, the legal system is changed into a very complicated strategy game between the city’s prosecutor and the defense lawyer. Here, justice does not prevail 100% of the time. If any justice thrives, it is ‘conservative justice’.
Police officers escort Alysha into the courtroom. Her hands are cuffed. Her hair’s a mess and she is wearing the black and white stripped shirt and pants. There is no scarf covering her neck and the two black spots on both sides of her throat are exposed.

The cops sit her down at the table next to Mr. Cheung.

Alysha looked tired and dejected as she slouched back in her seat. The air in the courtroom was warm; compared to the prison cell, where it was freezing cold all the time. She sneezed. Someone handed her a tissue. it was Mr. Cheung.
“Thanks…” she said, taking it.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Alysha shrugged. “My life is over!” she moaned. A tear trailed down her cheek.
Mr. Cheung put his arm around the girl’s shoulders. “Don’t say that! We are here to help you. The warrant not valid under law! Judge will not allow! You be fine?”
Alysha nodded, trying not to cry.
Soon the prosecutor, a tall, lean man with long dark hair entered the room and walked briskly to the other table. He was accompanied by another man wearing the same black suit, and the man’s wife, a tall slim woman with long brown hair. She was wearing a brown business woman’s suit.

“Oh crap!” Alysha whispered to the lawyer! It’s them. They want me to die!”
“Shhh! You be quiet, lah! I have everything under control! I know prosecutor, and I know he know that your parents’ warrant not valid!”

The prosecutor hit the button on the speaker that was mounted to the judge’s desk.
“We’re ready in hearing room three,” Mr. Kani, the prosecutor, said. He looked at the defendant and scowled, noting the black marks on her neck in disgust.
A few minutes later, the judge entered, and sat down. He checked his papers, then began:
“Good morning everyone. I am to preside over the hearing of Alysha Mae Erickson, who has been arrested under the extermination warrant as issued at the request of Mr. Josef and Mrs. Mary-Anne Erickson. This hearing is to determine logic and understanding of the situation and the law at hand. For the records, please state your names. Are you Alysha Mae Erickson?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you’re her’ parents?” the judge asked the prosecutor’s clients.
“Yes, sir” Josef said. Not once did he nor his wife take a second glance to their daughter.

“What are the charges, Mr. Kana?”
“Ms. Erickson is charged with refusal to turn herself in. She was informed of the warrant and did not report to the police,”
A minor charge, that carries 200 hours of labor.
“When was this warrant issued?”
“a week ago today,”
“How was Mrs. Erickson informed?” the judge demanded. Kana looked at the defence.
“How did you become aware of the warrant, Ms. Erickson?” the judge demanded.
Mr. Cheung nodded to her. “Go ahead. answer.”
“I-I was walking home from the bus stop, and this cop car pulled over. One of the cops got out and handed me a copy of the warrant and told me to watch it,”
“Where is this copy now?”
“I have it,” Mr. Cheung said. He handed it to the officer who then gave it to the judge.
“How long have you been a hacker, Mrs. Erickson?”

“Two and a half months.”
“Do you know how you acquired hackium?”
“Yeah. it was a cleric, and a bunch of other people from the Stars soccer team,”
“And just to confirm, you are the girl who was shot in the throat during the youth soccer game on October 2nd, then denied medical care by the medics on your team?”
Alysha nodded. “Yes, sir,”
The judge nodded.
He asked her more questions about what she was doing in the last two months.

An hour passed. The judge looked over his notes, then said, “I am going to open the grounds for prosecution
process.”
“Thank you, sir. I am representing the defendant’s mother and father who have issued exhibit C-1, the order of termination of Alysha Erickson.” He passed copies to the judge and Mr. Cheung.
“This warrant was filed On October 5. Under Section 51 of the Kerning City Criminal Code, this warrant permits the destruction of a hacker who is likely to contaminate all adjacent persons. This order is reasonable grounds for the KCP to arrest Mrs. Erickson.”
Mr. Cheung tapped the handbell in front of him.
The judge looked at him. “Yes, Mr. Cheung?”
“Sir, I have obtained medical records from Wan Chiang hospital and have reviewed them thoroughly. The records do not state anywhere that Ms. Erickson is a contamination threat to surrounding environments. She has undergone tests and all of the results came back negative-“
“Thank you, Mr. Cheung, you will get to bring us the details when your turn comes. Mr. Kana, continue.”

“Thank you, sir. The factor that Ms. Erickson is a contamination threat is not the only point listed in the request application for the warrant. My clients have been severely tramuatized when they witnessed the incident. Can you imagine seeing your daughter-your own child, being mortally wounded? Can you imagine the pain and angst they endured as the Grasshopper team’s medical personnel did not rush out on to the field to aid her? Now picture several hackers rushing onto the field, swarming over fallen kid as she lays bleeding to death, while nobody does a thing about it! Many of my past clients, including the Ericksons, have concluded that witnessing your child- who you love dearly and raised for so many years– being hacked is the same or perhaps an even worse and more traumatic feeling than your child dying!”

Mr. Cheung shook his head in disgust.

“Sir, my clients have filed the charges of gross traumatization against the defendant and that is also on the application
form for the warrant. They have also filed for economic damage charges against that hacker…”
Mr. Cheung squeezed Aysha’s arm. “Calm down! Judge will not sentence you death just for him talking! And that hutu dan is talking nothing but pihua!”
Alysha covered her face as she started crying. She was feeling so hurt for what the prosecutor was saying.
“…I can summon the reasons up for these charges- the gross personal traumatization, the economic loss, the financial loss, the breaking of a family; for years, they have raised her, loved her, cared for her, nurtured her, educated her, in hopes that someday Alysha would grow to be a successful young woman equipped with all the morals that would make her a decent good person. The loss of your own child is a big burden any parents bear.
“Now I will explain the financial and economic charges. My clients have kept with them the receipts of every single purchase they have made for the defendant since her date of birth. Food, clothes, toys, school fees, birthday and Christmas presents, petrol fuel for family trips that included the defendant’s friends. This kid has cost my clients nearly a rough total of 28 million mesos over the last 15 years. Now that she is a hacker, they have reason to consider that 33 million wasted. Instead, they could have used the money for other means…”

Alysha sat squirming in her chair, tweaking at every word the guy said, but Mr. Cheung was calm; the prosecutor was full of shyt.

“…Numerous family members and friends are affected by the incident. Mrs. Erickson took a mental health exam at Naora Hospital and the results confirm she has entered a depression. Mr. Erickson claims he halllucinates- that he will see his daughter and when he tries to make contact, the illusion disappears-“

The judge cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Mr. Kana, if I didn’t know better, I’d simply say that you are not making sense in your arguments. Of course your clients have been affected by what happened to the defendant. I’ll give them that, but the points you are sharing hardly relate to the case at hand. I have reviewed the registered evidence which confirms that the defendant has done nothing on purpose to cause the impact on everyone. Have you seen the incident on TV when it happened? The defendant did nothing at all. She was imply in the wrong place at the wrong time. You and your clients have yet to convince me. You may continue.”

“yes, well, you see, my clients are only exercising their rights and options under the law. the law states that if one becomes a hacker, all fellow persons can consider him or her dead, and press charges relating to what they suffer from losing a loved one.”
“Riiiight. Mr. Kana, do you plan to do any cross examinations? I have about nine more hearings to do today, and this is cutting into my coffee break. I would like to move on the defence soon enough.”

“Sir, I would like to call Mrs. Erickson to question.”
“Go ahead.”
Alysha’s mother got up and walked to the chair in front of the judge’s desk.
“Raise your right arm, Mrs. Erickson.”
She did.
“You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth as required in court by federal law?”
“Yes, I do, you honor.”

Mr. Kana began.
“Mrs. Erickson, you are the mother of the defendant Alysha Erickson?”
“Yes.”
“You are the one who signed the application for the extermination order?”
“Yes. My husband signed it, too.”
“Now, for the court, please summarize the past 10 weeks’ experience since the incident in regard to the loss of your daughter.”
Alysha’s mom told everyone of how heartbroken the whole family was after she got hacked, and their reaction when they got the hospital records on her. She said they cried, and got depressed like their kid was murdered.
“But your daughter is still alive. She is sitting next to her lawyer,”
Mrs. Erickson gave a sharp mean look at Alysha. “That is not my daughter! That is another hideous hacker! She is lost! She shouldn’t live like that! That is why I signed the extermination order!”

“I love you too, mom!” Alysha said sarcastically. Mr. Cheung elbowed her in the arm. “Cut that out, lah!” he hissed.

“No more questions, I’ll call Mr. Erickson to the stand, please.”

“…I would keep dreaming every night of those hackers on her, and in the dream, I am running across the field, cursing the Grasshoppers’ medics, and then they start swarming on me. I wake up thinking she’s in the house somewhere or out in the garage, and I would actually see her. I forget every time and think it was all a bad dream, but as soon as I rush up to hug her or even say something, she vanishes like a ghost, and I just lose it,” Alysha’s father was saying.
“I curse all hackers for what happened to me and my wife and our whole family. I am just as intent as when I signed that order,”

Soon it was Mr. Cheung’s turn. Alysha was on the question seat. Mr. Kana hammered her with despicable questions about the scars on her neck/
“And what color is hacker’s blood?”
“…black…”
“There you have it, folks, she even has admitted she is a hacker!”

Now Mr. Cheung was questioning Alysha. He gave her some tissues. She struggled to keep from crying.
“You remember what happened on the field?”
“Yes. I remember too much!”
“Can you explain in order the sequence that it all happened?”
Alysha paused. Tears streamed down her face.
“I was running on the field, with the ball, and about to shoot it into the net. This girl from the other team came up and was trying to check me, then I got shot with the arrow. I went down and couldn’t move. My neck hurt like it broke.
I felt the blood spilling out and then the hacker people were on me…”

“…testimony and the evidence concludes that Erickson has done absolutely nothing on her part. My friend and his clients are merely using secondary after-effects as legal weapons against their own child who they disowned and are trying to focus only disdain on.” Mr. Cheung said.
He called Alysha’s mother to the stand.

“How much do you hate hackers?”
“Very much.”
“How much did you love your daughter?”
“I-I loved Alysha very much. She was one of the gems of my life. If you want to know I hate hackers partly because of them I lost my daughter!”
“Mrs. Erickson, your child has been sitting next to me all morning-“
“That hacker is not my daughter! My child is gone! She is the product of what hackers do to fallen people!”
“What is your idea of a hacker’s mind?”
“Well, as you know, most hackers are heartless and cruel! You should beware of their heinous crimes against people! They only seek to spread their population and increase their numbers. I don’t see how you can apply the label ‘humanity’ to the scourage! Upon becoming hackers, they failed humanity! I will not have my daughter becoming lost and turning into a filthy heathen!”
“Fuqk you, you cold bich!” Alysha shot back, giving her mom the finger. “The hackers I lived with are wonderful people and are even more kinder and warm hearted than pureblood people like you! You don’t know w.t.f. you’re talking about!”

“That’s enough!” the judge snapped. “I will not tolerate hostile comments from anybody in the courtroom. Both of you, control yourselves!”

“That’s enough out of you!” Mr. Cheung snapped. “You wan me to do my job and get you out of this rut, you be quiet and talk only when i tell you to talk lah! got it?”
“Yes, sir,” Alysha said. “Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system.”

“Ms. Erickson,” the judge commanded. “Since you are enthusiastic to paint a picture in contrast to Mrs. Erickson’s views about the hacker community, please, describe to us of your experiences with them.”

“Mr. Judge, sorry for spazzing like that. I can’t listen those racist comments without getting mad, its self killing to just take that from anybody.”
“Its past. Continue, actually describe your general view of the typical civilian hacker based on your experiences.”
“They’re nice people. They’re not like mindless zombies or blood thirsty vampires. They still retain all their memory from when they were purebloods. The hackium is not like a cancer. If some one survives the illness stage after exposure, it only makes their bodies stronger. People who have powers, they have programs that help us control ourselves and not be a risk to other people. Some purebloods go to school and hang out with hackers, and they don’t get contaminated….”
Alysha explained in detail of her experiences with hackers. Then she went on about her parents and just broke down and cried.
“Objection, your honor?” Kana began.
“Overruled, Mr. Kana! I think I have heard enough about this case. We will take a 60 minute break, and when we’re back, I’ll announce my decision. Until then, Ms. Erickson is permitted to talk with her attorneys. I am ordering both sides to remain separated during the break.”

Outside, Mr. Cheung finally got to talk to Alysha, who was still in tears.
“Alysha, my child, you not worry. The judge will see this through.”
She turned around to glare at the cop standing close to her. “What? I’m not going anywhere!”

After the break, we are all in the courtroom again.
The atmosphere is tense as we wait for the judge. The most tense one of all would be Alysha; her life hangs on the judge’s decision. Finally the judge comes in, and announces his decision:

“I have reviewed the evidence and arguments on both sides of this case. This is a typical example of how anti-hacker sentiment plays out in the courts regardless of what the hacker has done. Today, the hacker has done nothing; and it is the defendant who is a victim of circumstance. It is a shame of humanity and society to see that harmless civilian hackers are sought after to be put to death. The legal processes are expensive and time consuming, and it is the dangerous hackers who get away with their crimes.
“The defendant has not commit any crime or conspired to commit any crime. She had landed in the care of fellow hackers at the hacker home in 7ung Hwang. She is enrolled in the local rehab program where she is learning to develop and to control her abilities as a fly hacker. According to the program, she has made impressive progress in controlling her powers ensuring the protection of herself and everyone around her. Medial tests do conclude the defendant is absolutely no threat to anyone around her; the hackium she has is well contained by the cells in her body.
“If I have any big disappointments, it is Mr. Kana’s clients; the mother and father of the defendant. You two ought to be ashamed of yourselves, for flat out disowning and abandoning your own child. Your intolerance of civilian hackers is a cause of the many instabilities in our society.
“Your arguments, I must say do not add up, nor do they justify you applying for the termination of your daughter. Your claiming you have mental dysfunctions and other problems and blaming it on your own child who has done nothing at all to you, puts you to shame.

“Kerning City is a legislated safety zone designed to protect civilian hackers who abide by the law and present no threat to the public. Filing a death warrant when the hacker has done nothing is illegal and a felony. I don’t know how you two managed to bring this warrant to court, but it only shows more of how stagnant you two really are.
Mr. Kana, as a chief prosecutor for the City of Kerning Law Enforcement, I am disappointed and I would expect a much higher performance. You should never have authorized that warrant in the first place.

“Mr. Cheung, on the other hand, I am grateful there are attorneys like him defending those threatened by legal tactics such as a death warrant, and I hope that someday there will be more people like him working the legal field.
Ms. Erickson, I feel sorry that you had to undergo the incident at Janszoon Fields and now this legal assault that threatened your freedom and human rights. Furthermore, It saddens me that these once loving parents have completely betrayed their own child in the wake of the incident al because of their racist, hateful attitudes toward the hackers in out city. It must be a very troubling and emotional experience.

“I reviewed all the evidence and the law. As per the law, I am legally required to void the case against Alysha Erickson, and deem the termination order invalid. By the power invested in me by the city of Kerning, I hereby order Ms. Erickson to be acquitted of all charges and released immediately.”

The people who came to support Alysha, whatever their cause was all clapped. Alysha just sat there next to Mr. Cheung stunned. She apparently was expecting a guilty verdict and the death sentence. Now she was just sitting there not knowing how to react.
Kana and his clients said nothing. Mary-Anne sneered at her kid then looked away. Alysha just gave her the finger.

“Furthermore,” the judge said. “Since you, Mr. and Mrs. Erickson were complaining about a 35 million meso economic loss, I am issuing each of you a fine of 35 million. Let that be a lesson to you.”

Mr. Kana escorted his clients to the waiting car outside as the Bluebird attorneys were gathered with us by the door. Mrs. Pei wrapped her coat around Alysha and held her tight as the girl cried. Probably of shock and relief.
Now she will return home to 7ung Hwang to continue her schooling, and her new life.
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i guess she’s in a public school because they wanted to mix hackers and purebloods and bring down the racist barrier