Having watched many episodes of ‘LA Law’, ‘Ally McBeal’ and sundry other American legal shows, I feel confident in detailing the following analysis of the situation.
Rex Fowler has 6 choices:
1. Employ the ‘Self defence’ er, defence. This requires Fowler to claim that Ciancio suddenly got angry, grabbed Fowler’s gun and threatened to kill him. Fowler then claims that they struggled for control of the weapon, before Ciancio pushes the barrel under Fowler’s chin and shoots him once. With his last vestige of consciousness, Fowler makes a superhuman effort and manages to point the weapon at Ciancio and pulls the trigger, fatally wounding his assailant before collapsing.
Viability rating = 0.3. The wound that Fowler suffered would almost certainly preclude him being able to wrestle the weapon from an attacker, who would probably have fired more shots to finish the job anyway. Also, the pattern of shots as reported by other people in the building doesn’t match this story.
2. Employ the ‘It was the other guy’ defence. This would involve making up a story about how he was having a quiet chat with the victim, when an unknown assailant burst into the office, grabbed Fowler’s gun and shot both him and Ciancio before escaping.
Viability rating = 0.5. This is not a very good defence as there is no evidence that any other person was present and it is unlikely that they could have come and gone without the other staff in the office noticing.
3. Employ the ‘Don’t remember a thing, guv’ defence. This would simply mean saying that because of his injury, he doesn’t remember anything about the incident. Requires a leap of faith as the forensic and other evidence is pretty damming and would probably be enough to convict him anyway. Also leaves the prosecution free to make all sorts of speculations as to his motives, possibly implicating the CoS.
Viability rating = 3.7. Wouldn’t get him off the hook, but would spare him having to answer any awkward questions about what happened that day. If he goes the whole hog and claims that he can’t remember anything about his former life, also takes some of the heat off the CoS. This might be the third best option for the CoS.
4. Employ the ‘It’s a fair cop’ non-defence by not contesting the charges or using whatever legal tactic necessary to achieve the same result. This would get him a very lengthy jail term, but would avoid embarrassing questions about his ‘church’ and religious beliefs. This could be followed up by public statements that he had been recruited by the CIA / Big Pharma / Marcabs to infiltrate the Scientology religion and bring it into disrepute.
Viability rating = 8.4. Perhaps the second best possible result for the CoS (there is no realistic prospect of an acquittal), but a really crappy one for Fowler. All hinges on how loyal he is prepared to be. Of course all things are relative as Scientology will still be associated with a murderer and many of the public who knew Fowler (and even some who don’t) will know this is a crock. Might prompt some of them to take a good hard look at what they are supporting.
5. Employ the ‘Crazy as a Moonbat’ defence. This involves claiming that he is not guilty by reason of insanity. This requires not much more than a quick summary of the beliefs and practices of Scientology, followed up by a demonstration of an OTVII auditing session where he ‘exorcises’ invisible beings that have infested his body, causing him to do all manner of evil things, including murder.
Viability rating = 9.1. This would be the best chance Fowler has of avoiding a lengthy jail term, albeit that he has to undertake a lengthy program of psychiatric treatment. Any jury in their right mind, when presented with a history of all the things that Fowler has done while a Scientologist and some of the more whacky ideas that Hubbard came up with, would almost certainly conclude that he was more than a little crazy. Hopefully, Fowler has received a psychiatric evaluation and away from the malign influence of the CoS has come to realise what a disastrous effect his ‘church’ has had on his life. This, of course, would be the worst possible outcome for the CoS as their most secret teachings would be laid bare for all the world to see and be forever linked to causing someone to go mad and kill another human being. The fallout would be cataclysmic.
6. Finish what he started. Correctly apply process R2-45 or a variation of, using whatever materials are at hand, before the case comes to court.
Viability rating = 7.8. Obviously a bad one for Fowler, but being a dedicated Scientologist he might consider this his best option. He’ll pick up a new body and start again in 20-odd years, right where he left off. The CoS will consider this the best outcome as then a lot of the awkward questions will not get asked and murder will not have been proved, allowing them to deny any responsibility and can never be disproven. But, we and many others will know the truth. The authorities must must must, be alert to the CoS trying to exert any pressure on Fowler to “do the right thing”.
So, whatever happens, this is going to be a very bad situation for the CoS and could well be a very large nail in their coffin.
Axiom142
THIS IS WHY !
