The Trial of John Predaetor, Part 2

Previously, on MinerBumping... Agent Kalorned was forced to destroy a Venture belonging to John Predaetor. John had failed to respond within 5 seconds after Kalorned asked him to speak in local, and was therefore deemed AFK. But John claimed total innocence. He had no interest in accepting Kalorned's generous plea bargain; he demanded a trial. Agent Quaker Oatmeal was called in to preside over the proceedings.

John Predaetor's defense centered around the fact that he'd been drinking while mining, and was therefore unable to see local chat.

The photo of John's cup was carefully scrutinized. Kalorned firmly believed, based on the evidence, that John would've been able to see through the cup--even as he was drinking from it.

John disagreed. Though he admitted parts of the cup were transparent, he maintained that his vision had been blocked by the logo printed on the cup. Also, the liquid in the cup (which was never identified) further obscured his view of the screen.

Now John was in hot water. His own evidence suggested that the cup was, in fact, empty. The light of truth shined through.

However, John's defense had always been that he was "chugging" the last remaining liquid at the moment Kalorned spoke in local. Only now was the cup empty. He drank the evidence!

A heated exchange followed. Unfortunately, the evidence was ambiguous. Maybe there had been liquid in the cup, and maybe there hadn't. The photo was inconclusive.

Next, the court focused its inquiry on the size of the cup itself. Putting aside whether there was liquid in it, would the cup have been large enough to obscure the miner's vision?

To bolster his claims, John took careful measurements of the cup and the position of his computer screen.

The tension in the court chat was so thick you could cut it with a knife (and probably couldn't see through it). But Quaker Oatmeal, professional that he is, was able to keep things under control.

In a devastating development, Kalorned pulled a line from the pre-trial chatlog showing an inconsistency in John's evidence. Previously, John had said his screen was 17 inches below his face. At trial, John said 18 inches. John countered that between pre-trial and trial, he'd had more time to make precise measurements. Or was he lying?

The stakes couldn't have been higher. If the court ruled in his favor, the young Venture pilot stood to receive a windfall of 1 billion isk. As for Kalorned, his perfect record as a New Order Agent was on the line.

Suddenly, another devastating development took place: Quaker Oatmeal ruled that it didn't make much difference whether the distance was 17 or 18 inches. Kalorned was shocked. The speechless Agent was on his heels. Was our hero about to lose his first case?

To be continued...