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« on: August 18, 2008, 12:48:33 pm »
[Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion.
If your char think he/she/it can add something interesting to a trial he/she/it should report to the guards in advance. I have been in 2 trials in RL and I NEVER saw that a spectator stood up shouting at the judge he/she/it can add evidences, the spectators were also told in advance to be quite or if they have something to say to tell is before the trail. Of course its more 'dramatic' to add evidences during the trial, I think that's why its often done in television, but in real life such tactics only earns you a fine. Those television trials are not made for realism, they are made for a dramatic moment.
Not allowing the spectators to bring in evidences during a trail will keep the trial on course and keeps OOC knowledge out. ("But I have seen $NAME at the plaza when the rouge was arrested. >>I saw the label<<.") Give us a chance to address such problems before the trial and not during.
If it would allowed to every spectator to add evidences, opinions and other means of attention grabbing, the event organizer would have to deal with OOC knowledge, OOC arguments, the trial event would become to long and most likely stuck by contradictions. Setting up such events is a great amount of work and time consuming. Allowing you bring evidences in during the trial just for the sake you can have the full attention and take over the event would make it much more complicated and would most likely end in several spectators inserting some late evidence just for the sake of the effect and get the event stuck.
In my opinion thats also why this is disallowed in real life trails. If you have knowledge that might add things to a trail then bring it up on the table before a trail, not during a trial. Giving all your knowledge, confessing all your wrong doings and what you have withnessed in advance is a sign of respect and trust to the trial and allows the judge to speak a fair sentence. Doing it during the trail shows a great portion of disrespect as you have kept knowledge back and now that it seems opportune by you you want to insert it and therefore is already a try to alter the trial to your liking. ]