Black and White

A line formed in front of the double doors with the brass handles.  There were men and woman, old and young.  Some were nearly shaking in frightened anticipation, running hands down their jeans to clean their palms from sweat.  Others looked confident, merely glancing around the small hallway or out the windows.  It was a beautiful day outside the courthouse.

“So, you’re telling me that we have essentially made lawyers obsolete?”

“If it works correctly and consistently, then, yes.”

“And if doesn’t?”

“Well, let’s be honest: it’s been tested so many times already; how could it fail?”

The doors opened from the inside, swinging outward and forcing the nearest man to jump back.  People peered down the line from the back of the hall to try and see what was happening.  A large security guard in a facemask, sunglasses and a hat stood in the doorway and beckoned the first man in.  The man looked back at the group, hesitantly shuffling forward.

“What if it’s wrong, though?  What then?”

“Well, I suppose they would put a stop to the trial run, but it doesn’t matter because it won’t be wrong.”

“You don’t think some people will feel cheated?  I mean, I would want a chance to explain myself.”

“There’s no point.  A criminal’s a criminal.”

The doors closed behind him and the frightened man was ushered into a chair at a modest table.  The security guard stood by the doors and remained silent.  The man looked around the bare room, rubbing his hands together frantically.  Then a door opened at the back of the room and a man in a white coat came in, also wearing a facemask, sunglasses, and a hat.  Both he and the security guard were unidentifiable.

“So if this trial run is successful, then what?”

“It’ll grow so fast you can’t imagine.  There won’t be any more lawyers anywhere – no more trials that last forever and no more killers getting off punishment free.”

“You really don’t think there’s a point to having the human element in trials?”

“None whatsoever.  Muddles the truth.”

The man in the white coat sat down on the other side of the table.  “Lawrence Fisher,” he said, addressing the frightened occupant of the seat across from him.  He paused and then said, “Correct?” Lawrence nodded quickly. “I need to ask you only one question, Mr. Fisher,” the man continued, withdrawing a couple papers from his coat pocket and looking them over.  He cleared his throat in a matter-of-fact way. “Did you or did you not commit the murders of Mr. and Mrs. Young?” The man in the white coat put the papers down on the table and waited for Lawrence to answer.  Lawrence looked around the room nervously, rubbing his hands together.  His forehead was shiny with sweat. “Th-that’s all I have to say?” he said. “Whe-whether I did it or-or not?” “Correct Mr. Fisher.  A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ will suffice.” “Well I didn’t do it!” Lawrence said defiantly, slamming his fists on the table, fear suddenly turning to rage. “I didn’t, alright?  I didn’t!” The man in the white coat simply stood up and motioned to the door from where he had entered. “Thank you, Mr. Fisher.  If you would please exit through there.” “I-uh…alright,” Lawrence said, startled by the abruptness.  He slowly walked over to the door, expecting the security guard to stop him at any moment.  Was that really it?  He placed his hand on the doorknob and twisted.

“I’m still not sure about this.”

“Why not?  It’s the perfect system.  No more of this ‘innocent until proven guilty’ crap.  Sympathy can’t be allowed to determine the fate of a killer.”

“But maybe not every case is so black and white, you know?  Maybe there are some gray areas.”

“No such thing.  They are either guilty or they are innocent.  That’s it.  And now we will never have to guess which one it is.”

“But what about the lawyers – surely they’ll be angry about losing their – ”

“Shh!  We have our first defendant.”

Lawrence entered the new room and seemed reluctant to close the door behind him.

“What is this?” he said to the two people at the desk near the back of the room.  They were both disguised like White Coat and the security guard had been, but he could tell one was a man and one a woman. “What am I doing in here?”

“Please, Mr. – ah,” The man shuffled some papers. “Fisher.  Sit down.”

Lawrence entered the room.

“And close the door behind you, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Lawrence did so and took a seat across from them.  A strange contraption sat on the desk.  It looked like some sort of helmet, but much more technologically advanced, with buttons and switches and gears.

“What’s that?” Lawrence said.

“A simple device we will be using,” the man said.

“Don’t worry,” the woman interjected, seeing the frightened look on Lawrence’s face. “It’s not painful in any way.”

“Uh…alright.” Lawrence said. “What does it do?”

“If you would be so kind as to put it on your head, like a helmet.”

Lawrence picked up the device.  It was heavy and awkward to hold.  He put it over his head and it slid down so it almost covered his eyes.

“Now just one second, Mr. Fisher.” The man fiddled with a few buttons on the contraption.  Lawrence couldn’t see anything. “Now, remind us again of the answer you gave to the man in the white coat.  Did you commit the murders?”

“I…uh…no.  No, no I didn’t do it.  No.”

“Alright, thank you Mr. Fisher.  Now please try to relax, this will only take a few seconds.” The helmet started to beep and whir as if starting up.  It lasted for only a moment and then a mechanical voice echoed throughout the room, seemingly coming from the device itself. “Guilty,” the voice said.

The helmet quieted and Lawrence removed it. “W-what did it say?  Did it say ‘guilty’?”

“I am afraid so, Mr. Fisher.  Had you told the truth to the man in the white coat your sentence would have been lessoned, but because you lied you will receive harsher punishment for your crime.”

“I…I don’t understand…” Lawrence looked around the room frantically, in disbelief. “I didn’t…You don’t get it!” he yelled. “You don’t get it!  I killed them, yes, I did, but you would have done the same!”

“Security,” the man said calmly.  The guard from the first room came through the door, picked Lawrence up by the arms, and began to carry him away.

“No no no no!” Lawrence screamed. “They were the bad ones!  They broke into my house!  They were going to kill my family!”

“Mr. Fisher, please…”

“NO!  They were going to kill my daughters!  I had to do it!  They were psychopaths – please, I’m not a killer; I’ve never even gotten a speeding ticket!”

But his voice trailed off as the security guard hauled him through a back door. 

The line of people flinched again as the doors with the brass knobs swung open.  “Next,” said the gruff voice of the security guard.

A man walked forward, smiling at the guard as he did so. 

He sat down before the man in the white coat. “Good morning,” he said cheerfully. “Beautiful day.”

White Coat seemed lost for words. “Uh… Mr. Frank Louis, correct?”

“Correct indeed!”

“Right.  Well, uh, I need only ask you one question, Mr. Louis.”

“By all means,” Frank said, smiling brightly at the disguised man.

White coat cleared his throat with a little apprehension. “Did you or did you not commit the murder of the Alberez family?”

“Well I turned myself in for it, didn’t I?”

“Right, but, I just need to hear a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”

“Certainly,” Frank said, leaning forward. “I killed them, all right.  Husband, wife, son, daughter, infant; all of them.”

“Very…Very well.  Please, if you would exit through…”

“Oh no!” Frank said. “Don’t you want to know the details?  I did it with a shovel.  Well, first I used a screw driver, but then it got too slippery – you know – from the blood.”

“Mr. Louis, if you would please exit through…”

“And then I buried them all in their backyard.  I cut them up and buried them.  I can’t wait for the next family to put in a pool or something and dig them up!  What a pleasant surprise that will be!” Frank chuckled to himself. “Can you imagine?”

“Mr. Louis!” White Coat shouted, standing up. “Please go!”

“Of course,” Frank said, rising and walking to the door. “Enjoy the beautiful day.  I know I will.”

Frank entered the second room with the same smile and sat down before the man and woman.

“Mr. Louis,” the man said, looking through his papers. “You turned yourself in for the murder of the Alberez family, is this correct?”

“Correct!”

“Right… Uh, well, if you could please tell us what you told the man in the white coat.”

“Ah yes, quite a cheerful fellow!  Well, I told him that I most certainly killed them.  I killed them all.  With a screwdriver and a shovel.”

“I see.  Well if you could just put this device on like a helmet, we can get on with your sentence.  Because you told the truth your sentence will be lessened partially.”

Frank put the contraption on and grinned as it whirred into action.  He could barely see out from under it, but it was enough to make eye contact with the man across from him – or rather, eye contact through his sunglasses.  Frank did not blink.  He did not stop smiling.  He did not look away.

“Not guilty,” the machine said, the verdict echoing through the silent room.

Frank removed the helmet and set it back on the table.

“Well, it looks like it’s my lucky day!” and with that he escorted himself out of the room.  The man and woman sat in stunned silence.

Frank entered his home and his wife greeted him.

“Hey how’d it go at the courthouse?  Did it work?” She asked him.

“Oh, I believe it did,” Frank said.

“They bought your story?  Did they think you did it?”

“I was pretty convincing; they’d be dumb not to have believed me!  Who would turn themselves in when they were innocent?  Oh yes, they think I killed them.”

“But there’s nothing they can do, right?  I mean, once that machine gives its verdict it’s decided, right?”

“Right.  I think I just poked a giant hole in their little project.”

“So now they think the machine’s faulty or something?”

“No doubt.  It’ll be put out of commission rather quickly, I daresay.  This was their experimental run, after all.  If they wanted to use a machine to determine someone’s fate, they should’ve removed the human element completely, otherwise it’s pointless.  Now the Board will think they just let a killer go loose, since they have to report every case.”

“So you think you’ll get your job back?  Sounds like lawyers will be back in business soon enough.”