The rebuttal.

The courtroom was quiet save for the confident voice of the Defending Lawyer. Roman Skye presented evidence before the panel in hopes that the vote would come back unanimous for not guilty. Doubt was his friend in this circumstance and while there was evidence it was purely circumstantial at best and alluded to the fact that someone else was committing these crimes and was still at large.

Three character witnesses had come forward to relay testimony to the character of the defendant: Erron Logan Bloodworth. They heard testimony from Zoe Parish, Ehren Clemons, and Dorian Sloan.

The panel itself was made up of five people - men and women in the highest ranks of power on the island, including Mayor Monday and General Glove. The fifth person often was the tie breaker and Roman had seen many a situation come to rest on the shoulders of that fifth person. He needed at least three in his pocket to win and a Skye never lost a case.

“...and you’ll see that in this photograph here,” Roman continued, motioning to the blown up photograph of the crime scene taken from the security footage. “That this is a feline shifter. My client is a wolf shifter.”

One of the panel spoke up, “How do we know that is not a wolf for sure?”

Roman smiled, “What a wonderful question! Do you see this lithe shape? Wolves are hairier, they have long, stilt like legs and bushy tails. This creature has no fur that sticks out, no mane, no bushy tail.”

The panel sat back unsatisfied.

Roman turned to the defendant. “Mr. Bloodworth, would you please demonstrate your ability for the panel? There is a divider there that you can use to change.” He would motion to the divider and Logan was then unshackled. A glance over his shoulder and Logan found Ehren’s gaze, unsure but willing, and then he turned away to move behind the curtain. It took a few moments to slide out of the prison uniform. Logan then shifted and wandered out from behind the curtain shyly. The wolf slunk over toward the panel, spinning around to show off its features. Clearly the differences between it and the creature in the photo were distinct.

“Thank you, Mr. Bloodworth. You may return.” Roman breathed.

Logan went to change again, putting his clothes back on and returning to the side of the defense.

Roman then showed a doctored clip of the night in question, showing Logan in his apartment asleep at the exact time the crime was thought to have taken place. The puppy had been removed from the footage and would not be shown to the panel. “This is camera footage from the evening in question. You can see by the date and time stamp on the photograph that Mr. Bloodworth was in his apartment when the crime was taking place. If this doesn’t prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that my client is innocent of this crime, I’m not sure what else will.”

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Confess your sins.