Stand Your Ground
| Stand Your Ground | ||||||||||
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ShadowHaven KSAF | The Law | Ex-Lone Star | ||||||||
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Captain Freefall Tupelo Delphi Lambda Bleue |
KE Beat Cops District Attorney Mark Donaghy | Racist Drekhead | ||||||||
Summary
Raina Cooley, a troll living in Everett, is shot and killed by Jeremy Huber who uses a "Stand Your Ground" defense to avoid prosecution. Raina's wife Alison and the runners take issue with that, and correct the situation.
Background
UCAS has terrible "Stand Your Ground" laws, which allow someone to use lethal force in public spaces if they "feel threatened". Jeremy used this to murder a troll he didn't want in the neighborhood.
The Meet
The runners meetup in Alison's apartment, her baby in her arms, and she tells them that her wife Raina was shot and Knight Errant won't do anything about it since the perpetrator claimed "Stand Your Ground" on the 911 call. She offers the runners half the money from Raina's life insurance, a total of 10k nuyen. Only Lambda and Bleue accept any payment.
The Plan
There was a plan?
The Run
The runners walk over to where Raina was shot, and see the police crime scene line as well as the outline of a troll on the ground in chalk and two AR tags near shells. Bleue and Captain Freefall distract the cops for a while, learning that Jeremy shot Raina after calling 911 and telling the dispatcher that she was a burglar. The dispatcher tries to defuse the situation, though Jeremy approaches anyway. Over the call is heard a short shouting match followed by two gunshots. Then Jeremy says he felt threatened for his life. The KE beat cops tell Captain Freefall and Bleue (as ACE GUNSMOKE) that since he felt threatened for his life they couldn't prosecute him for a murder due to the "Stand Your Ground" law UCAS has.
Meanwhile, Tupelo and Delphi have snuck into the crime scene and are investigating. Tupelo determines the rounds used were regular ammo and that Raina was shot in the face. Delphi uses psychometry and experiences Raina's last moments as Jeremy walks up to her, shouts at her and calls her slurs. She shouts back, and he instantly quick-draws a Cavalier Champion and shoots her in the face. Then he quick-draws another one and shoots her again before she falls. (Delphi experiences MORE TRAUMA).
During this, Lambda starts a search on Jeremy Huber, learning that he was a previous Lone Star officer fairly quickly. He also spots a camera on the matrix that pointed towards where Raina was shot and hacks it to get the camera footage. However, the 20 minutes before and after the shooting were wiped from the file. He leaves to do a more in-depth search on Jeremy.
Tupelo, Captain Freefall, and Bleue approach the house with the camera to ask why the footage was deleted. The occupant, Diana Clay (Jeremy's ex-wife), is very hostile at first until she learns that Tupelo is former Lone Star. She then invites Tupelo and Bleue (who is pretending to be Lone Star) in, leaving Captain Freefall outside since he doesn't work for Lone Star. Inside, Bleue goes on a long speech about Lone Star's liability here while Tupelo does a quick search and finds a card inside from the "UCAS Concealed Carry Society", which gives detailed instructions on the back on what to say to police if you shoot someone in order to claim "Stand Your Ground" as a defense. They convince her that the card is out of date with the current laws, and she gives them Jeremy's current addres.
Meanwhile, Lambda's search concludes and he discovers that Jeremy Huber was laid off from Lone Star in 2072 when Knight Errant took over the Seattle contract. He is a magic 8 adept, has been charged with (but never convicted) of several 'Drunk and Disorderly' misdemeanors, and currently works for a private security firm. He also finds out Jeremy owns at least 8 guns, and confirms his address, and discovers that Jeremy has been to at least one Humanis rally.
The runners decide that Captain Freefall, as his mild-mannered alter-ego Jim Johnson, should interview Jeremy and provoke him into shooting him while Lambda hacks his security company's host and the rest of the runners subtly record the incident (and use KSAF to publicize the incident). Lambda gets into a triple-nested Host while Captain Freefall pretends to be doing a fluff piece on Lone Star with Jeremy. Then, once Lambda reveals himself in the Host by hacking Jeremy's secure files, Captain Freefall attemps to prevent Jeremy from leaving, but he doesn't shoot. He's about to head back into his apartment from the sidewalk where the interview was taking placce when Bleue runs over to him and demands to know why he shot Raina Cooley. Jeremy quick-draws a Cavalier Champion and attempts to shoot her, but Captain Freefall protects the principle and tanks the bullet (taking over half his physical track AFTER spending more edge on the soak). Meanwhile, Delphi and Tupelo have recorded the incident and Delphi calls Knight Errant to come arrest Jeremy. Captain Freefall uses his connections at KSAF to get the footage all over the news.
Aftermath
District Attorney Mark Donaghy has no choice but to press charges against Jeremy with the public outcry over the incidents (shooting two trolls in a single day is a pattern!) and the footage KSAF released shows he wasn't threatened. Jeremy is put away for 2nd degree murder and attempted murder. Justice is... served? (The law stays on the books, though. :( )
Rewards
- Bleue and Lambda: 4k nuyen (2 RVP)
- Delphi, Tupelo, and CAPTAIN FREEFALL: 2k nuyen + 1 karma (2 RVP)
- Everyone: 14 karma (14 RVP)
- 2 CDP
- Testifying against this racist drekhead (for everyone but Lambda)
- OPTIONAL CONTACT: District Attorney Mark Donaghy (Connection 5) at Loyalty 3 for -6 RVP (everyone from Lambda picks this up!!!)
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Bleue - As much as I try to keep calm and composed at all times, seeing a grieving woman break down in front of you will never be an easy thing. It does not help that bizarre man, Lambda? He exudes an aura of ... well, I don't like it. However, I am still determined to mess with him a little bit, if I am able. As for the run, seeing that racist bastard be convicted almost made it worth it. Almost. Hopefully, knowing the D.A. can provide useful in the future.
Lambda - I am not surprised by the end results. These projections are common, albeit team cohesion requires further adjustment. Some demanding control need it the least, while those running too loose require a leash. As for the target smeared with this operation, I feel no way one way or another.
Delphi
Not sure what to think of this one. Got called in about a murder case, but the J already knew who the perp was - some drekhead killed her wife right in the street then claimed self-defense to the pawns. Of course it turns out he provoked her (I saw it with my own eyes), but there was little way to prove it and the guy was former Lone Star anyway so it was a tough row to hoe. Ended up staging a hit on CAPTIAN FREEFALL (I swear, I heard he worked the shadows but I never thought I'd see it) in his civilian identity (it's cute that he thinks we can't tell, and I didn't want to spoil that for him), with me filming from the bushes, and managed to throw enough of a media circus with the Cap's KSAF connections that the DA had no choice but to press charges. I dunno if they'll stick, but it was better than just icing the guy like I'm sure some runners would have wanted to - much as I want justice in the world that ain't it, especially not for a measly two grand from some poor grieving woman. I do hope she'll be okay though, this was such a senseless tragedy and it just makes me sad.
I did do something probably stupid though - got called into testify in court about what happened (had to upgrade my fake and everything - I also really hoping no cops decide to retaliate for that), and I left a business card with the DA "in case he needs PI services". After our last encounter and recent news, I figured he would be a good guy to know, but I'd certainly rather he didn't have an inkling about what sort of thing I really do for a living and these seemed like the right sort of circumstances to make that connection - hopefully it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass down the line.