SEIA33

=Chapter 33=
==Silent enim inter arma: Tribunals==
Unity City
North America, Terra
Sol Star System
Republic of the Sphere
3079
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[Witnesses on the Stand.. ]
It was amusing watching Haskins wrestle his witness back onto the topic at hand after an hour of digressions, long-winded explanations and sophistry.
"...and thus, why her motivations could not have been strictly due to concerns of needs."  Yamada finished.
Everyone at first looked like they were about to relax.
"Your witness." he said to Seether
Seether stood up.  "You've described your methodology in some detail, Doctor. I want to put it to the test now with a hypothetical case-please, Ladies and gentlemen, bear with me...would that be okay? If I gave you a blind test of your methods?"
"I believe that will be most informative, Miss Sithers."
She didn't correct his misuse of her rank, indeed, Seether smiled.
"Subject is Twenty seven years old, male, with almost ten years in service, from a working class rural background.  He has the following awards at this time:" she lifted a sheet, "Medal of Valor with Clusters, three times, Wound medals seven times, McKenzie Ground Pounder's medal with V device, Commonwealth Cross with V device four times, Two field promotions of one grade each for actions taken under heavy fire, both later confirmed, Commonwealth Field Award for Gallantry, nine times.  Letter of Recognition of Merit from Clan Jade Falcon three times, Navy Cross Twice...Doctor, what kind of man is this?"
"Can you tell me anything about his life off-duty?" Doctor Yamada asked.
"Our subject has been married once, but has no children." Seether said.
"Given the list of awards, that's not surprising, this is clearly a Dedicated and some would term it courageous soldier." he said.
"Given that, Doctor, how dangerous is this person going to be upon discharge?"
"Well, the list of awards suggests the last ten years have been extremely...violent. The subject must suffer from Traumatic disorders, the intense pace of deployments combined with the suggested lack of proper civil life, separation from family and combat experience, this person is likely a very dangerous soldier who will not adapt to civilian life easily or quickly." he said, "I would recommend in-patient treatment for transition to civilian life, possibly for an indefinite period, lest he become a danger to others."
"Alright...with the court's permission? Corpsman Qien Vien, front and center!"
From the back of the room, a young man in LCN Dress Blues came walking...well, maybe not 'young' anymore.  "For the record, ladies and gentlemen...the corpsman here, is a Conscientious objector whose religious faith bars him from performing acts of violence on another human being, or bearing a weapon against another human being.  He won those honors in  part risking his own life to save the lives of civilians and his fellow soldiers."
She returned the Corpsman's salute, "Have a seat over there, Vien. I'll be calling you to the stand in due time."
"Ayeh Mum."  
''
"My point is, you can only learn so much from a limited dataset.  The Corpsman there voluntarily enlisted and has served with distinction among infantry soldiers in some of the worst fighting of the last ten years." she crossed her arms, "He is a dedicated life-saver, and you're going to tell me that civilians aren't safe in this man's presence?"
Yamada's eyes goggled.
"Doctor, Your long and exhaustive description of your work. What is left out something pretty fundamental for getting accurate diagnoses. You have very little time for clinical work, and less time out of the University and into the field.  You also omitted what criteria you would use to declare a patient or subject safe or sane.  It is common to conflate the ability to overcome fear, with dangerous aggression, you forgot that Correlation is not causation, you also did not further prod for additional information, but went straight to a judgement off of an incomplete dataset."
She seemed to grow in her uniform, "HOW IN THE NAME OF GOD did you manage to get a position of respect with such shoddy work??"
She turned to the Tribunal, "The diagnosis of mental disorders is a complex and complicated activity, it requires in-depth understanding of the subject, to understand the underlying causes and how each individual patient reacts to those causes.  right here, we see a degreed professor misjudging someone based on a list of medals and less information than you get from the summary of a child's collector's card!"
She crossed her arms, "Your Honor, and Colonel Haskins?  This 'expert' witness is no expert.  I have worked with better on clearer cases, if Professor Yamada represents the best Terran mental health medicine can deliver in the field of Forensic Psychology then you might want to start putting teams on reviewing unjust and unlawful convictions, or improperly conducted criminal investigations that have failed to snare the actual perpetrators."  she jerked a thumb at the witness box, "THIS guy is a ****** hack in a designer suit...Vien, the files?"
"Ayeh, mum."
"My client has graciously signed off-these files. Defense Exhibit M, for 'mental Health', are Elizabeth Ngo's Lyran Commonwealth Medical Corps psychological and mental health treatment records, which included as well, are private treatment records dating back to her in-patient period for drug abuse at age eleven...this is what a real forensic psychologist would be asking for."
She laid the discs down on a table in front of the panel.  "Everything a real, working, actual expert would have requested is present here...and this is to support my counter-witness's testimony with verifiable actual data."
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