Chamber of Justice Communique #036b

Let it be known that on this the 21st day of January, 2013 in a free and united Brotherhood, I the Justicar of the people set forth the declaration of the Chamber of Justice and its punishment on Darkone. Upon the conclusion of fair and just proceedings, a jury of your peers finds you:

On the charge of Disreputable Behavior - You did willingly and knowingly create videos that picture the Brotherhood in an ill light, and attempt to lure others to boycott the Brotherhood by means of treason.
The jury finds you GUILTY

Sentencing for the party is as follows: As approved by a sentencing jury, you are hereby stripped of all medals and awards, demoted to the rank of initiate, and expelled from the Dark Brotherhood, never to return.

Chamber of Justice Communique #036c DB vs Darkone - Justicar's Opinion

On January 3rd, I received an email from the Grand Master that outlined a specific threat to the Brotherhood, several videos made and posted on YouTube that depicted a character in The Old Republic game. The content of the videos directed Brotherhood members to engage in a boycott of the Brotherhood, and aimed at hurting our overall member base. The member, Darkone, had posted it over several channels of IRC, and continued to do so after a direct confrontation with the Grand Master. After Muz was unable to get ahold of me immediately, he activated an Order of Advanced Incarceration as afforded to him by the Dark Covenant, section 8.08(c). I convened the Appeals Panel the morning after to validate the Order. The Panel voted unanimously to uphold it, and the Chamber was summoned to action.

Due to the recent switch in my Hands of Justice, I was without a Left Hand of Justice. Korras served as interim LHoJ to match the needs of this Chamber. Through out the notification period, Darkone continued to troll several members of the Brotherhood, using methods such as the DB Feedback page, the forums, and continued email to the Grand Master, claiming his treatment was unfair and that his videos were justified.

Following the notification of charges, Darkone and his counsel entered a plea of not guilty. He requested a delayed trial start date, and claimed loss of computer access. His recent spam of trolling via email, coupled with the burden of a speedy resolution due to the Order of Advanced Incarceration, were the reasons for a denial of his request. The interim Left Hand of Justice was made immediately available to him for defense counsel. A trial was then held to determine the guilt or innocence of Darkone himself. As it is the right of the member, Darkone choose to be judged by his peers in a Trial by Jury. Evidence was presented, and both parties submitted their arguments to the Justicar for review. A randomly generated jury panel of 6 was selected to weigh in on the evidence, and found Darkone unanimously guilty of Disreputable Behavior.

Due to the severity of the offense, and Darkone's clear intent on trolling the Brotherhood starting at an early rank, the Chamber agreed that expulsion would be in the greatest interest of the Brotherhood as a whole. As required by the Dark Covenant, a sentencing jury composed of completely new juror members must approve such an action by majority. With a final vote of 5 in favor of expulsion, and 1 against, the vote passed to expel Darkone permanently from our ranks.

Treason is something that needs to be caught and addressed at the time of the offense, to ensure our member base is protected from outbursts such as these. It was my goal to prevent the loss of membership and thus the livelihood of this organization by means of pursuing a fair yet stern response from this office. Darkone had been warned by several veteran members that actions such as those he committed were in violation of our rules, but chose to instead repost the videos and then admit to his own wrong doing. While it has always been the policy of the Chamber to mediate before a direct response, sometimes there are severe cases such as these that require the full capacity of this Chamber.

Signed and sealed, Taigikori Aybara Justicar and High Protector of the Dark Brotherhood