CALL FOR CRIMINAL JUDGEMENT ARCHIVE (131-present)

Call For Criminal Judgement 131 - Fri, 28 Mar 1997 08:24:08 -0500
Subject: Voting
Initiator: IdiotBoy
Judge: breadbox (selected Mar 25, 1997, 20:59 EST)
Judgement: FALSE

Statement:

Robert Sevin has committed a crime.

Rule 106 prohibits players from having more than one vote recorded on any Proposal. Robert Sevin submitted votes of both PRESENT and YES on a recent proposal.

A FINE of A$150 payable to the treasury

and

a SENTENCE in the Gaol of 7 days.

What Rule 106 actually says is that players are limited to one vote per proposal. While one would expect that the reports of the Tabulator should reflect the actual votes of the players, the fact that Robert Sevin's name appeared twice on this report does not necessarily mean that he tried to exercise two votes on a single proposal.

Furthermore, the testimony given by Robert Sevin and Mohammed, the Tabulator, make it clear that Robert Sevin made a second submission to the Tabulator in order to change his vote, which is certainly permitted by Rule 106, and this was somehow the source of the confusion on the report in question. There is no reason to believe that Robert Sevin made any attempt to have both submissions counted simultaneously as votes.

Call For Criminal Judgement 132 - Mon, 31 Mar 1997 19:08:32 -0500
Subject: Gaoling the Gaoler
Initiator: Malenkai
Judge: ThinMan (selected Mar 29, 1997, 22:33 EST)
Judgement: TRUE

Statement:

snowgod has comitted a crime.

The irony here is too good to pass up.

The Senators went to Gaol March 26th, 17:13 EST.

-From rule 712, Gaoler:

>      (iii) The duties are 

>            b) To publically post a description of the cell of any player
> in the Gaol. 

snowgod, the Gaoler, has not performed these duties. Perhaps our Gaoler has lost touch with the Gaol, and from within its walls, he will be in a better position to do so, or at least get reacquainted with the Gaol and acka's tough on crime custom, something his prisoners have not experienced ;-)

3 days in Gaol for the Gaoler

It is indisputable that snowgod did not post the descriptions of the cells of the Senators. The three-day period provided for by "Speed" had expired when this CFJ was submitted. I agree with Malenkai that the Gaoler's duties required posting cell descriptions, thus I judge this CFJ TRUE.

I note that an alternative reading of R 712 would require the Gaoler to publicly post a cell description only once, ever. This does not seem to be the customary interpretation, however.

3 days in Gaol

Call For Criminal Judgement 133 - Mon, 02 Jun 1997 19:50:49 -0400
Subject: Failing to selecting a Mad Hatter
Initiator: ThinMan
Judge: Malenkai (selected Jun 02, 1997, 19:12 EST)
Judgement: TRUE

Statement:

ThinMan has committed a Crime.

ThinMan was acting Speaker from the date that Malenkai left on vacation until the date he returned, a total of about four weeks. As Acting Speaker, ThinMan was required to perform all the duties of the Speaker. One such duty was the assignment of of a Mad Hatter for Malenkai, which ThinMan failed to do. From Rule 713: "Failure of an Officer to perform a Duty of an Office e holds is a Crime." Q.E.D.

A FINE of A$25

I find ThinMan's reasoning valid and adequate.

A PUBLIC APOLOGY of 3 lines [preferrably in the form of a haiku ;-)]

Call For Criminal Judgement 134 - Mon, 09 Jun 1997 19:45:42 -0400
Subject: Illegal Anti-Gumball Chewing
Initiator: Atilla the Pun
Judge: CarsesraC (selected Jun 04, 1997, 20:09 EDT) (failed to respond)
2nd Judge: Techno (selected Jun 08, 1997, 21:38 EDT)
Judgement: TRUE

Statement:

Atilla the Pun has committed a Crime.

At approximately 12:10 EDT on June 1, I accidentally posted a message (I had intended to post it on May 29) in an attempt to chew the Anti-Gumball. This was patently illegal, since 1 is not a prime greater than seven. I believe I may have accidentally posted this message one or two more times, as well

a FINE of A$100
a SENTENCE of 1 day in the Gaol
(for each erroneous message)

I find this CFCJ to be TRUE. Atilla the Pun is guilty of said crime.

A$100 and 2 days in gaol.

Call For Criminal Judgement 135 - Wed, 18 Jun 1997 22:10:57 -0400
Subject: Family Business
Initiator: Alfvaen
Judge: Bascule (selected Jun 07, 1997, 01:50 EDT)
Judgement: TRUE at Sun, 15 Jun 1997 22:11:03 -0400
Appealed by: Malenkai
Appeal Verdict: TRUE

Statement:

Malenkai has committed a Crime.

Malenkai posted the following public message:

> In my various capacities as both a player and the Godfather, the
> following actions are occurring in the order specified:
>
> 1) As Godfather, I am publishing the following odds:
>
> The odds of a public message being posted by a player other than
> Malenkai in the next 7 days are 530 to 1.
>
> 2) The Godfather is taking bets on this event, with a maximum
> bet of A$1.
>
> 3) I, Malenkai, am taking the A$1 side of this bet, wagering A$1.
>
> 4) The Godfather acks this bet

In it, he explicitly, under his own name, makes a bet with the Narfalone Family. I now refer you to relevant sections of Rule 1060, "Organized Crime".

Rule 1060, "Organized Crime"

(relevant sections)

2. Publicly admitting to belonging to the Narfalone Family is a Crime, punishable by no more than 5 days in jail.

7. [excerpt] Any member of the Narfalone Family may bet by publicly stating which event they are wagering on and the $A they are wagering.

11. [excerpt] ...any Narfalone Family business that requires a public message should be done using the player's Narfalone Family name. Otherwise, the public message is tantamount to an admission of membership, which is still a Crime.

Clearly, by making a bet, which is Narfalone Family business that requires a public message, without using his Narfalone Family name("The Godfather"), Malenkai has admitted to being a member of the Narfalone Family.

Either a FINE of A$530(the amount Malenkai attempted to scam from the Narfalone Family)

or a SENTENCE of 5 days(the maximum).

I have been impressed throughout this trial with the honesty, integrity and accuracy of the witness Alfvaen. I find him to be a reliable witness, and no evidence has been produced to challenge his version of events.

I find that Counsel for the Prosecution, Alfvaen, has constructed a solid case for a verdict of GUILTY, er TRUE. The defendent hatched a wicked plot to defraud Organized Crime out of A$530. He then executed his best friend, er plan, with ruthless disregard for his fellow criminals.

Malenkai, aka the Godfather, your knowledge of the law and ability to escape through the tiniest loophole makes you Ackanomic's most dangerous criminal. I feel I have no option but to impose a stiff penalty, and I can only hope that this encourages you to return to your previous law-abiding ways. The penalty shall be a FINE of A$1060.

FINE of A$1060

I am appealing the penalty, not the verdict, although, due to the nit-picking nature of the crime in question, the Court is free to find INVALID as was done on a similar nit-picking case in CFJ 281.

First of all, one nit-picking crime is being used to "punish" a scam that was completely legal, and performed as described in the rules. I think we set a bad precedent to use pedantic crimes to punish rule-following behaviour. Lets face it, everyone breaks the rules in minor ways all the time. We don't want to, but it happens. Scams are good for Acka -- they encourage well-written rules. This CFCJ and penalty are not the solution to encourage well-written rules. I could argue that Acka's ruleset is *healthier* due to scamming; do not discourage it.

Secondly, lets look at my financial history. Probably over A$1000 donated to Acka in the form of Treasure hunts, to provide incentive to find alternate winning conditions, develop and participate in sub-games, and general harf, including the RoJ treasure worth over A$600 and a possible win for everyone but myself. When I did those things, why wasn't anyone calling a CFJ demanding that large sums of money be *given* to me. 'Oh my god, Malenkai just created a Treasure worth A$700, lets throw money *at* him'. Instead, something a bit more than a typo, and I get hit with a fine of more than most players even start with, and considerably more than I have. If this unjust, unfair, insultingly ridiculous penalty sticks, I will no longer be able to do that part of the game for Acka. What does Acka think I'm gonna do with the scammed money anyway?

Finally, its been said publically that the CFCJ was in questionable taste. I'm not gonna argue that point here, but I was suprised when it was not retracted. A similar case occured with me on CFCJ 102 (athough the scam in question broke the rules, unlike this one), and I had the grace to retract the CFCJ, learning the philosophy of the first point. Perhaps Acka can do the same here.

I am already going lose 25 points on the frivilous appeal (much more than the standard penalties for real crimes), I ask the Court for a prompt verdict and a DEDUCTION of 0 points.

This appears to be a first in Ackanomic: the appeal of a CFCJ for the purpose of altering the punishment rather than the verdict.

First, the Court notes that the CFCJ's suggested and original punishment was motivated by other actions of the defendant, rather than the actual Crime. This has its precedents, and this Court does not wish to appear to pass judgement on such practices, favorable or otherwise. Still, the Supreme Court itself must adhere to a more rigorous standard of behavior, if it is to adequately perform the service that was intended by its founders. In the case of a Criminal Judgement, that means that the punishment must fit the crime that the Court was asked to consider. In particular, using Criminal proceedings to serve as redress for the essentially unrelated grievances suffered by an independent Organization is not a valid function of the Supreme Court, and to do otherwise would be a disservice to the citizenship of Ackanomic.

The Court finds that a penalty of one day in Gaol to be appropriate.

Call For Criminal Judgement 136 - Wed, 25 Jun 1997 20:37:45 -0400
Subject: Illegal Dueling
Initiator: Robert Sevin
Judge: Vynd (selected Jun 18, 1997, 21:51 EDT)
Judgement: TRUE at Mon, 23 Jun 1997 00:24:15 -0400
Appealed by Robert Sevin
Appeal Verdict: TRUE

Statement:

Robert Sevin has committed a Crime.

At approximately 10:08pm Central time on June 17, I officially announced a duel between Alfvaen and /dev/joe. At 10:57pm Central time on June 17, I sent an identical copy of the same message. Since the duel had already been declared, my second message was a Crime (I was not authorized by Alfvaen to initiate a second, identical duel).

a DEDUCTION of 1,000,000,000 points
and
a FINE of A$5
and
a SENTENCE of 2 days in the Gaol
and
a TRANSFERENCE of the Adhesive Capital H
and
a PUBLIC APOLOGY of 3 lines

The first question here is, of course, did the events described above actualy occur? I have satisfied myself that they did (OK, OK, I remember it happening). Rule 1215 Duels clearly describes the procedure through which Challenges to a duel may be given. The first step is for the Challenging player to find someone else to be their Second. Only after a Second has been chosen may he post a Challenge on behalf of the Challenger. Clearly then, Robert Sevin broke the rules by sending out an unauthorized Challenge. Actually, since it was impossible for him to send a real Challenge, that message "never happened," but even trying to send it was still a Crime.

In light of the serious nature of the Crime, and the history of Mr. Sevin. I have no choice but to sentence him to:

A DEDUCTION of 0 points.

and

A PUBLIC APOLOGY of 13 or more lines.

I hereby appeal CFCJ 136, paying any necessary fees to do so. I hope that the TRUE sentence will be upheld, and that I will be given a more severe punishment.

Robert Sevin has had the misfortune to attempt autoflagellation under a Supreme Court that believes that punishments should fit the crime under consideration. In particular, this Court has no desire to set a precedent of severely punishing a crime that 1) could quite easily be committed as an innocent mistake, and 2) caused no harm other than to waste less bandwidth than this CFCJ.

a PUBLIC APOLOGY of at least 12 lines

... plus, of course, the automatic 25-point penalty for "frivolously bothering the Judges".

Call For Criminal Judgement 137 -
Subject: Zuriti'ili
Initiator: Alfvaen
Judge: Rex Mundi (selected Jul 07, 1997, 23:33h EDT)
Judgement: TRUE

Statement:

/dev/joe has committed a Crime.

According to the Zuriti'ili rule, this heinous Crime has been committed at least once in the history of Ackanomic, and it is furthermore possibly related to entities which may be owned. /dev/joe is known as one of the foremost owners of entities, hence I consider it extremely likely that he has committed Zuriti'ili with reference to one or more of these entities. Furthermore, he has been in the game at some point during the history of Ackanomic.

A FINE of A$100, or The TRANSFERENCE of the Shapeshifter, Bronze Horse, Aladdin's Ring, or Colossus of Sardia to Alfvaen, on the ground that these large trinkets surely led to the commission of Zuriti'ili, and would be better off in other hands.

Phoebe told me so.

[And guideline, which I believe I get to nominate]

Any action involving a prime number of named ownable entities is not

A fine of A$47, and a public apology of at least 3 lines.

Call For Criminal Judgement 138 - Mon, 21 Jul 1997 19:24:51 -0400
Subject: Big Tenant
Initiator: Mohammed
Judge: AZTEC G0D (selected Jul 12, 1997, 11:04h EDT) (declined)
2nd Judge: Guy Fawkes (selected Jul 14, 1997, 19:10h EDT)
Judgement: TRUE

Statement:

Robert Sevin has committed a Crime.

Rule 1009 (Big Tents and Rewarding Party Unity) says:

> An Organization that has a Big Tent is called a Political Party. It
> is a Crime to be a member of more than one Political Party at once.

Robert Sevin is a member of both Metamorph and Harf, two Organizations each of which owns a Big Tent.

A DEDUCTION of 10,000,000 points.

Robert Sevin's criminal behavior is easy to verify. The rules describe what he has obviously done as a Crime, and the initiator has quoted the relavant section of the rules.

However, the suggested penalty seems slightly severe, especially in light of Mr. Sevin's recent correction of his criminal status. (Now, were he to join yet another organization with a Big Tent, there would be little doubt in my mind that the suggested penalty is appropriate.

a PENALTY of 317 points

Note that although this is by no means binding game custom, I would suggest that future judges restrict their penalties in such situations to prime amounts.

Call For Criminal Judgement 139 - Tue, 29 Jul 1997 18:29:40 -0400
Subject: Entity Manipulation
Initiator: Malenkai
Judge: Niccolo Flychuck (selected Jul 14, 1997, 23:18h EDT) (deadbeat)
2nd Judge: ThinMan (selected Jul 18, 1997, 20:43h EDT) (failed to respond)
3rd Judge: mr cwm (selected Jul 25, 1997, 21:56h EDT)
Judgement: FALSE

Statement:

Chaos has committed a Crime.

Chaos attempted to zap the following entities with an Orbital Mind Control Laser via the following action on July 14th:

---
> I offer /dev/joe Jephthah's Pride in exchange for the Collossus of
> Sardia, an Otzma Card type Go Fish, a Plunky Monkey Wrench, a Scroll of
> Crumble, and A$250.        Oh my, this is too good to pass up.
        I am zapping /dev/joe with my Orbital Mind Control Laser for
the trade offer quoted above.
        *zot*
---

Now, its been alleged that this was in fact a Crime, due to the fact that the Collossus of Sardia did not exist at the time, but were not here to judge that.

It seems much more likely that the heinous crime of Zuriti'ili was comitted in regards to these nefarious attempted entity manipulations. Lets look at the mysterious circumstances surrounding this action: 1) The fabled Collossus of Sardia mysteriously disappears. 2) The target is nothing but charred remains in the afterlife. 3) The President (and defendant) is making secret deals with his partner in crime to gerrymander him onto the Supreme Court in exchange for supporting this underhanded entity manipulation.

We know that the heinous crime of Zuriti'ili involves entities, but not a prime number of entities. The number of entities in question here is 254 or 255, depending how you count. It is also rumoured in the ancient texts that a *zot* noise is involved, and that is the case here.

The Judge has no choice, given the overwhelming evidence presented, that Chaos comitted the Crime of Zuriti'ili here on this day of July 14th.

A FINE of A$1150 -- known A$ value of the entities in question.

The evidence against Chaos is, indeed, overwhelming, but that is actually an argument in favor of his innocence since, as anyone who has watched _Murder, She Wrote_ knows, the party to whom the evidence most clearly points is never guilty.

In researching Ancient Texts, I have come to suspect that the *zot* noises which figure so prominently were added in transcription by scribes who could not bring themselves to believe that the Incredibly Wise Ancient Ones had ommitted any reference to such an amusing sound.

I have examined the record, and exacty two CFCJ's (not including this CFCJ) have been called since Zuriti'ili has been recognized as a Crime. One of those (CFCJ 137) was a charge of Zuriti'ili, but one, CFCJ 138, was not. Consider CFCJ 138: a Crime was committed, and yet there was not the slightest hint of Zuriti'ili. From this I draw the logically indefensible (well, R719 *does* say "unusual lattitude") conclusion, which is also the guideline brought forth by this verdict, that Zuriti'ili is never committed simultaneously with another Crime.

Call For Criminal Judgement 140 - Sun, 20 Jul 1997 19:04:56 -0900
Subject: Malpractice
Initiator: Mr. Lunatic Fringe
Judge: two-star (selected Jul 20, 1997, 19:51h EDT)
Judgement: retracted by author

Statement:

Mr. Lunatic Fringe has commited a crime.

On June 26th, the senate reached a decision on the matter of internoic proposal 342. I, mistakenly, believed that the senate had not reached a decision, and was acting under that impression when I abstained while casting Ackanomic's vote in internomic. If that isn't the crime of malpractice, I don't know what is.

A puplic apology not to exceed 92,000 lines of text.

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