Hayes v. KPD; The court system revamped
Updated July 6th 2022 GMT
Hello Karakura! It’s Tatsuo Terusuno reporting to the townspeople once more on a beautiful day like this. I had the great opportunity to sit in on one of hopefully many cases to come, in a newly revamped court system. One that minimizes the resources used within the town hall, and a system that gives the citizens, free and incarcerated, a chance to have a bigger voice.
The case today upon the stands today was Jaymore Hayes v. KPD. Jaymore Hayes was arrested under the charge of minor illegal weaponry, after being caught supposedly throwing a pocket knife during a chase. Hayes pleaded not guilty, and was held for four months until his case was brought up. Hayes began with his opening statement, he stated that he came upon a male he wasn’t familiar with who originally had the weapon and was seen by witnesses, which led to the police being called. He went on to say the reason he was arrested was the blame for possession of the weapon being placed on him. An interesting fact to add on, was that he was not in possession of the weapon upon arrest, merely just an affiliation.
Judge Tsu went on, explaining how there was no bodycam footage or CCTV along with Hayes’ file. On paper, there is no evidence to justify Hayes being locked up, she had a viewing Detective come to clarify something for her before her final statement. Judge Tsu ruled Hayes innocent, with the reasoning of lack of evidence. His sentence was revoked, Hayes won ¥25,000 for every month he was imprisoned, totalling in ¥100,000 in compensation immediately paid out to him by the KPD. He was freed directly after the trial. Free with knowing he got justice for his improper sentencing. The transcription of the entire trial will be at the bottom of this article.
After the trial, I had the great honor and privilege to speak to Judge Tsu, the primary Judge of Hayes v. KPD. Previously stated, the court has rolled out an entirely new system for dealing with all new and upcoming court cases. This system will be more efficient, clearing up months of backlog and giving the citizens of this town the voice they deserve. Below is the transcription of my interview with Judge Tsu.
TT: ‘I’ll start off with introducing myself! I’m Tatsuo Terusuno, a reporter with Karakura News. I just wanted to get a few questions from you about the case from tonight, and your process of how you and the court came to the ruling.’
YT: ‘Oh, of course! I’m happy to answer any questions. Today was our very first criminal trial. A new system the judges and myself came up with to minimize resources being used and allow more citizens to be heard.’
TT: ‘Oh, interesting! How does this new system work? What are all of the new procedures in place to do such that! Minimizing resources and letting more citizens be heard.’
YT: ‘Well for one, it requires a significant less amount of planning time and the trials themselves are notably shorter. We believe in giving the, for the lack of better term, criminals the chance to be heard via a one-on-one conversation with the judge and jury. We’re of course given all of the evidence, and the goal is to discuss a fair bail or potential release. In this case, it appeared that Jaymore Hayes was indeed innocent due to lack of evidence and false accusations. Without this system, innocent people like himself could not have been brought to light without waiting several more months or even years.’
TT: ‘Is it often that when the KPD makes arrests, that they’ll end up as cases here- Specifically, on the basis of lack of evidence?’
YT: ‘Well! The way the system works is that everyone has a chance to plead not guilty. Those files are then logged and passed off to the town hall for further processing. There’s very low chances that KPD make mistakes whilst on the job. But we’re all human and it happens to the best of us. However, that's what court is for! We process and review these cases and make sure that the law is being followed to a fold!’
TT: ‘What other types of cases do you expect with this new system? Besides, those like we saw today. Just, generally asking. How else will this new court system benefit the citizens?’
YT: ‘Well! I’m glad you asked. We currently have a HUGE backlog of cases that have just not seen the light of day in months. That’s because we have more cases come in than we do trials weekly. With this swifter system, and with most of the cases being non-guilty pleas, we’re able to have at least two to four criminal trials a week. Thus allowing all citizens who get jailed to be able to speak their mind on the matter from a more down to earth perspective. As far as other cases go, we’ll see how criminal trials do for the next few months. I have a few more ideas for a more active court of law, however, one step at a time!’
TT: ‘It gives me joy to hear that many who are held up in cells. Many innocent. Will finally get peace and justice. Would you mind me picking your brain for those future ideas of yours! Unless, it’s private matters’
YT: ‘Well… Most of ‘em are private, however I am planning on coming up with a system for vehicle related issues and crimes. That’ll be hopefully in the coming months!’
This was the end of my interview with Judge Yui Tsu. It was an absolute pleasure to hear everything that they have been working on to further improve this town. This is one step in the right direction for a brighter Karakura, and I know that this is just one of the many things to come in the next few months. This has been Tatsuo Terusuno, signing out after another great day in Karakura.
Hayes v. KPD transcription;
w/ Judge Yui Tsu accompanied with Judge Kenji Hall, Jaymore Hayes, Governor Kiyoko Akai, Detective Tsukimomoe Taro, Detective Valentinus Wayne and others observing
YT: ‘Miss Akai, whenever you’re ready.’
KA: ‘Thank you all for coming, the trial for Mr. Jaymore Hayes will now commence. Can everyone stand except for the judges please.’
KA: ‘Alright, Judges Yui Tsu and Kenji Hall, are you both ready? Do you swear that you will fairly try the case before this county, and that you will return a true verdict according to the evidence and the instructions of the court?’’
YT: ‘I swear.’
KA: ‘Alright, you may all please re-take your seats. The Judge will now give their opening statement.’
YT: ‘Good evening ladies and gentlemen of the court. Today I’m going to be looking into the case of Jaymore Hayes. Who has been arrested under the charge of minor illegal weaponry, after being caught supposedly throwing a pocket knife during a chase. Mr Hayes, I will be allowing you to speak on behalf of yourself and be able to state your claim for a lower bail, or potential release. Miss Akai will swear you in now.’
KA: ‘Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. Do you swear that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?’
JH: ‘I do swear that I will the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.’
YT: ‘Right! We’ll begin. Tell me Mr. Hayes, describe the events that led up to your arrest from your point of view.’
JH: ‘There was a guy that I am not familiar with that had some sort of an illegal weapon and was seen by witnesses who must’ve called the cops on said person. Shortly after that, a couple of cops came and walked around the area.’
YT: ‘So you were arrested on the account of that knife falling into your hands?’
JH: ‘I was arrested because supposedly the person blamed me for having the weapon. After the cops came and found the guy, he was asked to get onto the wall when he ran off and during the chase he dropped the weapon.’
YT: ‘Well, according to my file you claimed to have had known who’s knife it was. Your son’s to be exact. Is that correct?’
JH: ‘I don’t have a son. Maybe you’re thinking of my nephew, Jakhay?’
YT: ‘Hmm… My file does say otherwise. However, I have no actual body cam footage or CCTV along with me today. What I’m looking at is the fact that you were arrested for being affiliated with that knife, not necessarily the knife being on you at the time. An odd situation indeed. Tell me Mr. Hayes, do you have any past criminal history? Not necessarily documented by the police.’
JH: ‘I was never affiliated with the knife, there was another guy at the plaza that had it.’
YT: ‘And did that individual get arrested?’
JH: ‘At the time they were.’
YT: ‘So to sum things up, your arrest was not for possession of minor illegal weaponry, but in fact affiliation to a minor illegal weapon, to which there is no proof on. Note that just because there is no proof, does not mean it didn’t happen. That’s what I’m trying to find out today.’
JH: ‘I was said to be arrested for minor illegal weaponry.’
YT: ‘I see. And you were arrested despite lack of fingerprint evidence or actual weaponry on yourself?’
JH: ‘Yes, there couldn’t be any proof nor evidence of me having a weapon seeing as it never happened.’
YT directed to VW: ‘Are you able to confirm this? It’s not on my file.’
VW: ‘Pardon?’
YT: ‘If you could approach the stand. If you don’t mind’
At this time, my recording did not pick up anything VW directed to YT
YT: ‘Alright Mr. Hayes, you’ve been in prison for at least four months, correct?’
JH: ‘Correct.’
YT: ‘Very well then. I see no reason to keep you in prison any longer. I hereby revoke your sentence on lack of evidence and improper imprisonment. You are to be freed immediately. As far as compensation goes, KPD claims to have no evidence, so for every month you spent in prison, the KPD will compensate with ¥25,000 per month, resulting in a full compensation of ¥100,000.’
After some questions asked for correlation by Detective Tsukimomoe Taro, the court session was dismissed.
