Editing Space Law (section)

====Legal Representation and Trials====
Prisoners are permitted to seek legal representation however you are under no obligation to provide or allow this.

Lawyers, and by extension the Head of Personnel, exist to serve as a guiding hand and the voice of reason within the judicial process, however they have zero authority over the brig, security personnel, prisoners, or sentencing. 

The Lawyer's security headset is a privilege not a right. Security personnel are under no requirement to listen to them and security channel abuse is to result in that privilege being revoked. <BR>
If the lawyer continuously acts as a disruptive influence Security are fully permitted to confiscate their access, remove them from the brig and bar their future access to it.


In instances where a conflict of opinion arises over the sentence of a prisoner the [[Chain_of_Command|chain of command]] '''must''' be followed. This goes, from top to bottom: Captain > Head of Security > Warden > Sec Officer / Detective.

Trials are not to be performed for Timed Sentences. This is mainly for the benefit of the accused as trials will often run many times the length of the actual sentence. <BR>
Trials may be performed for Capital Crimes and Permanent Detention, however there is no requirement to hold them. Forensic Evidence, Witness Testimony, or Confessions are all that is required for the Head of Security, Warden or Captain to authorize their sentence.

In cases where the Death Penalty is desired but the Captain or Acting-Captain is unable or unwilling to authorize the execution a trial '''is required''' to authorise the death penalty.