The Trial of Han Solo

This comes on recommendation from our friend Andy E., after seeing how great a fit it was, we had no choice but to post it. This site had utterly no hand in making this, but it's grand. Just grand.

United States v Jewell- (United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, 1976)

Han Solo was captured by the Imperial Star Destroyer Devastator in a smuggling run from Tatooine to Alderan. After breaching the vessel, the Stormtroopers stumbled upon Jedi that had been concealed in a secret compartment aboard the Millennium Falcon. Imperial Law prohibits smuggling- “A person who knowingly engages in the interplanetary transportation of Jedi is guilty of interplanetary smuggling.”

Before the Imperial District Court, Han testified that although he knew of the secret compartment, and was aware of the possibility that the Jedi had been hidden there (while Han was conveniently drinking Flameouts in a cantina nearby); he had deliberately avoided looking in the compartments after takeoff so that he could avoid responsibility if he was caught. Therefore, he stated, his actions did not meet the “knowingly” requirement of the smuggling statute.

The District Court ruled that even though Han did not have ‘positive knowledge” of the incident, deliberate ignorance should be held equally culpable, and convicted Han under the statute.

The Imperial Appellate Court affirmed the conviction, determining that the District Court need only prove “beyond a reasonable doubt, that [Han’s ignorance of the presence of the Jedi] was solely and entirely a result of a conscious purpose to avoid learning the truth.”

The Jedi however, were allowed to leave the Imperial vessel unharmed. It turns out they weren’t the Jedi the stormtroopers were looking for.

People v. (Huey) Newton- (California Court of Appeals, 1970)

Han Solo and Chewbacca were relaxing in Chalmun's Cantina on Tatooine, when Chewie stood up and left the table to grab another Algerine for him and Solo. The rodesian bounty hunter, Greedo, recognizing his chance, then sat down and confronted Solo regarding Jabba the Hutt's bounty on his head. In the middle of the conversation, Greedo felt threatened and attempted to pull a blaster on Solo, which lead to a physical struggle between the two. When Imperial Stormtroopers then rushed into the Cantina to break up the quarrel, Greedo managed to squeeze off a shot into Solo's abdomen. Solo then proceeded to draw his blaster and execute Greedo, and in a rampage of violence killed several other Stormtroopers and Cantina patrons, before running several miles and passing out in the street.

Waking up in a cell in the brig, Solo claimed that after Greedo shot him he could not remember anything that followed after. Expert testimony by a GH-7 medical droid suggested that indeed, after being shot Solo went into a state known as "Automatism"; under which, like a droid he had no conscious control over himself, merely recieving input and submitting output (in the form of repeated blaster fire). The medical droid suggested that such a state could be in this reflex shock condition for up to a half an hour.

This raised several issues for the Outer Rim Court on Tatooine, as one of the elements of being charged with a criminal act is the requirement of "mens rea", or the mental culpability (or intent to commit the act). If Solo was not actually conscious during this obscene flurry of violence, it would be philosophically repugnant to punish him for an act outside of his control. This concern was also to be balanced with the notion that Solo had (even in his "droid-like" state) managed to kill several innocent individuals. The case was eventually remanded by the court for a jury determination as to whether or not Solo's act was voluntary.

R v Cogdon (Australia, 1951)

After Anakin Skywalker watched his mother die at the hands of the Tusken Raiders in the deserts of Tattoine (See Portee v Jaffee), he began to have force visions in his sleep that his secret wife, Padme Amidala, was in danger of dying during childbirth. One night, after a particularly gruesome dream, where a vampiric baby straight out of Twilight ate its way out of Padme's stomach, Anakin awoke to find himself standing over his sleeping wife, force pushing on her stomach as if forcing a tiny life back into the womb. Disturbed by the situation (made worse by the fact that he had slept-flown from his current station post on Coruscant all the way to Padme's summer palace on Naboo), he consulted the Jedi Council who suggested that he freeze himself in carbonite before sleeping, in the hopes that the suspended animation might end the horrific visions.

That evening, while communicating via hologram with Padme and the droids, C3PO expressed his trepidation about the ongoing war against the Sith lord Darth Sidious. That night, Anakin had 3PO freeze him in carbonite. Unfortunately, the droid, worried that in his absence R2D2 would cheat at their ongoing game of holochess, set the timer incorrectly on the freezing chamber, setting the auto-unfreeze for 5 minutes instead of 5 hours. Upon unfreezing, Anakin, who was still asleep, dreamed that the Sith were attacking Padme in her home. A sinister cloaked figure was on her bed, lightsaber drawn.

Anakin awoke to find himself crying hysterically, landing his ship on Coruscant. He rushed to Obi-Wan's room and told him that he was afraid he had harmed Padme. Together they rushed back to Naboo, only to find that in his unconscious state, Anakin had hacked his wife to death.

The Jedi Council, in determining Anakin's culpability, stated that there is no crime without the presence of overt and voluntary conduct (actus reus). They found that even though Anakin had overtly preformed the act of lightsaber murder, it was a product of involuntary unconsciousness, and that the act was not actually his act at all.

Proctor v. State- (Criminal Court of Appeals of Oklahoma, 1918) [Back to Buisness]

Shortly following the Emperor's initiation of Order 66, the secondary market for Jedi lightsabers exploded, with hundreds filling the black markets on Coruscant. While the statutory language of Order 66 largely dealt with the removal of Jedi commanders, §A(3) made it illegal for any citizen of the Empire to possess Jedi paraphernalia with the intention of practicing the Jedi arts, including the use of lightsabers; punishable by death by means of firing squad, force choke or lightning. Mere ownership of lightsabers exclusively, however, was not illegal.

Marso Yula was a low level bureaucrat and Imperial officer on Coruscant who secretly collected lightsabers purchased from bounty hunters, stormtroopers, and the black markets. Yula wished to learn the ways of the Jedi, but had never acted upon these intentions. While following a tip in efforts to obtain the light saber of fabled Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn, Yula was arrested by a stormtrooper raid and later charged under violation of Order 66, §A(3).

However, upon review by the Coruscant division of the Imperial Court of Appeals Order 66 §A(3) was termed "inoperative and void." The court held that since ownership of lightsabers was entirely legal, the fact that Yula had an illegal intent to learn the Jedi arts was immaterial. Under the Imperial Penal Code, charging an individual with a crime required BOTH a physical act (Actus Reus) and an intent to act illegally (Mens Rea). While Yula may have (and in fact, did) intended to act illegally by learning the ways of the Jedi, the unfilled action meant a lack of "Actus Reus", and thus Yula could not be charged with a crime. Order 66 §A(3) was then struck down for its problematic requirements, and Yula was released, but was compelled to "donate" her collection to Darth Vader via a most persuasive force gripping.