Oliver watched Simms dryly, waiting for the man to finish before he turned his own attention to the group. When he spoke, the weariness returned, but he was genuine. "Just to get it on record, while we've got everybody here. I think we can all agree that this whole situation is a bit of a mess. Not just here, but back at the house too. We're not professionals at law, or even takin' charge back at Zenith. We're not some tyrannical dictatorship, we just do the best that we can. That's all anybody here can do. And most of you don't know us well, and this wasn't exactly a shinin' example of how we do things, but no one is expendable. If somethin' happens we do our damn best to try and help if we can. Simms is a special case because he proved on more than one occasion that he couldn't be trusted not to put the safety of people in this house at risk for his own amusement. Like it was said here, we've had trouble in the past with a few people, but we help first if we can. That's worked in every situation so far except Simms, because he just doesn't give a damn. He's a danger to the people in this house even unprovoked, and I won't lie, none of us are qualified to deal with that properly. Like I said, we can only do the best we can, and if anyone ever has a better idea of how to do that, we'll listen."
He gestured with his head to Lila, his eyes traveling to her then back to the jury. "We spent a good part of yesterday lookin' into viable options to help Lila avoid whatever might happen here. The best ones came from someone outside of the council. It was up to her to decide whether or not she wanted to try, and some of us were prepared to bend over backwards to make it happen. She didn't want to. Her reasons are her own, and she knew this could be a possibility, but it was her decision. If someone ever needs help, they don't ever need to do it alone. That's just not how we work. If you ever have an issue, you say so, whether it's with someone else in the house, or us. We're all stuck here, but most of us just want to make dealin' with is as painless for everyone as possible." With that, he lightly tapped the gavel down. "Unless anybody's got anythin' else to say, minus the peanut gallery," he gestured with his head to Simms without looking. "Then I'd say you're free to convene."