The following three cases were tried separately, though were involved in the same offense. The communiques and Justicar Opinions will be compiled into this single report.
Chamber of Justice Communique 39a
Let it be known that on this the 2nd of October, 2013 of a free and united Brotherhood, I, the Justicar of the people, set forth the declaration of the Chamber of Justice and its punishment on Solus Gar. Upon the conclusion of fair and just proceedings, the Chamber reached the following verdicts.
i) Cheating - You did willingly and knowingly attempt to unfairly improve your unit’s participation score by falsifying a submission to include a member who did not participate in that event during a Brotherhood Vendetta. The Chamber finds you GUILTY, as charged.
ii) Disreputable Behavior - Through the manipulation of the submission, you have brought credible disrepute unto yourself, your House, and the Brotherhood, as well as tainting the integrity of the Brotherhood Vendetta. The Chamber finds you GUILTY, as charged.
Sentencing for the defendant is as follows:
Chamber of Justice Communique 40a
Let it be known that on this the 2nd of October, 2013 of a free and united Brotherhood, I, the Justicar of the people, set forth the declaration of the Chamber of Justice and its punishment on Arden Karn. Arden Karn plead guilty to the following charges.
I) Cheating - You did willingly and knowingly attempt to unfairly improve your unit’s participation score by falsifying a submission to include a member who did not participate in that event during a Brotherhood Vendetta.
II) Abuse of Power - You did willingly and knowingly attempt to coerce a subordinate into falsifying a submission to include a member who did not participated in that event, and thus attempted to coerce a subordinate to cheat in a Brotherhood Vendetta.
III) Disreputable Behavior - Through the manipulation of the submission, you have brought credible disrepute unto yourself, your House, and the Brotherhood, as well as tainting the integrity of the Brotherhood Vendetta.
Sentencing for the defendant is as follows:
Chamber of Justice Communique 41a
Let it be known that on this the 2nd of October, 2013 of a free and united Brotherhood, I, the Justicar of the people, set forth the declaration of the Chamber of Justice and its punishment on Ronovi Tavisaen. Ronovi Tavisaen plead guilty to the following charges.
I) Cheating - You did willingly and knowingly attempt to unfairly improve your unit’s participation score by falsifying a submission to include a member who did not participate in that event during a Brotherhood Vendetta.
II) Abuse of Power - You did willingly and knowingly attempt to coerce a subordinate into falsifying a submission to include a member who did not participated in that event, and thus attempted to coerce a subordinate to cheat in a Brotherhood Vendetta.
III) Disreputable Behavior - Through the manipulation of the submission, you have brought credible disrepute unto yourself, your House, and the Brotherhood, as well as tainting the integrity of the Brotherhood Vendetta.
Sentencing for the defendant is as follows:
Case Summaries
Prior to the end of the last phase of the Dark Crusade, the Chamber received an official complaint from a member who had been influenced into trying to add a member onto the participation list for the Battleplan Event. The Plagueis summit threatened to remove the informant from positions of leadership, if he did not "beef up" the list of members that worked on the Plagueis Battleplan. Quaestor Ronovi, Aedile Arden, and Solus Gar were all named as the members of the Plagueis leadership who ordered the act of cheating to be committed during the Dark Crusade Vendetta. The Chamber immediately convened and began preliminary investigations on all three individuals simultaneously.
#039 DB vs Solus Gar began with the notification of charges, where Solus immediately began to act defensively and plead not guilty to the charges laid out before him. Solus was given four days to choose either a Trial by Jury, or Trial by Justicar. During this period, the defendant was informed of the intended punishment should he be found guilty. With no response after the fourth day, an email was sent to him to once again informing him of the closing of the deadline for him to decide upon the trial type. It was then discovered that Solus had deleted his email account, and fired his chosen defense counsel during that period, without notifying the Justicar of either instances. Without a way to communicate to Solus from that point onward, and the proposed punishment a one grade Equite demotion, a Trial by Justicar was then entered by the Chamber of Justice. Arguments were submitted by both Hands of Justice and reviewed. After deliberating, Solus Gar was found guilty on all counts, and the sentencing phase then began. In this case, the demeanor of Solus, and his complete lack of excepting his involvement of member coercion, lead to the decision of a one grade Equite demotion.
#040 DB vs Arden Karn was initiated at the same point, with the notification of charges and subsequent discussion between the Justicar and Arden on the topic of each charge and their meaning. As Aedile, Arden was directly responsible, and at the center of the abuse of power charge. Immediately it became evident that Arden was taking responsibility for his actions, and felt genuine guilt for the crime he was charged with. After a brief consultation from the Justicar with Covenant interpretations on the charges laid before him, Arden plead guilty to all counts, and the case then moved to sentencing. Given his guilty plea, and his unusual positive attitude on accepting responsibility, the Chamber decided mercy would be the route of correct punishment. A six month probationary period, and Official Letter of Reprimand were thus given as the Justicar's sentencing, and the case was closed.
#041 DB vs Ronovi Tavisaen was the first to be officially looked into, despite it's docket number. As Quaestor of House Plagueis, Ronovi's accused action of directly ordering a member to commit an act of cheating during a major Brotherhood Vendetta was the most severe of the three cases, and is what drew attention to the complaint. With the evidence against her, the Chamber laid the notification of charges against her, and was immediately greeted by yet another deleted email account. Unable to contact Ronovi to notify her of the charges, an official communique was posted on the Brotherhood news page. Through an alternate email account, the defendant plead guilty to all charges, and the sentencing phase began at once. Though pleading guilty, a more severe probation length of one year, coupled with an Official Letter of Reprimand was decided upon, with her position as Quaestor taken into consideration, as well as the scope of the crime she had committed.
Justicar's Opinion
This was the first time in Brotherhood history that an entire Summit was involved in a Vendetta cheating case, and required the entire Chamber of Justice to act swiftly in harmony with the Grand Master to ensure that our member base was both protected, and secured. The act of ordering a subordinate to cheat, is about the most serious offense one can do as leader of this club, and cannot go without the intervention of the Justicar, backed by the full support of the executive branch of this organization. Ronovi, Arden, and Solus all decided upon the importance of house participation points, over the responsibility of being a leader. Though Ronovi and Arden recognized their fault and attempted to make amends for their wrong doing, the Covenant requires an atmosphere of non oppression for our members, especially from the leaders they are serving. Solus Gar, who attempted to evade the decision of the Chamber by deleting his email account, was held just as responsible for his actions, as he was in a personal position within the House to command influence and respect from Ronovi. All three cases serve as a reminder, that we are not a perfect Unit, and we are not so far removed from leaders who would try to take advantage of those under them. We are here to serve the membership, to provide an enjoyable and free form of Star Wars entertainment, not to take those rights from them.
Signed and sealed in Justice, Taigikori Aybara Justicar and High Protector of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood
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