Justice is Not Blind ☠ The Punisher

Chapter 4: The People v. Frank Castle

Animal, hero, a fascist, protector of innocent. These were only a few of the things that were attributed to Frank as the trial of the century was underway. Dani was contacted almost incessantly by the media and by just anyone who had her phone number wanting to know what she thought of her brother's actions, what he was like. Maybe in the back of their minds wanting to know if she was the same. But she promised to keep her mouth shut about all of it. The only people that needed convincing that Frank wasn't the nutcase so many were making him out to be was the jury. At least, not in the way they saw him.

What did defending her brother on this say about her though? Was she just a loyal sister or did those gangsters deserve what they had coming to them after years of ruining other peoples lives? Dani would have to save all these thoughts and moral dilemmas for another time. The trial was starting tomorrow and she promised to help any way she could.

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Dani followed Karen back into the meeting room, setting down one of the boxes on the chair next to Foggy. The table was covered in files from the other boxes that pertained to the case and there seemed to be at least a dozen or so more Reyes had sent over. Karen complained, "If I get my hands on the worthless intern who organized these files-"

"Oh, I'm sure that intern's just following the DA's orders. It's not officially sabotage... just sets it back," Murdock, who insisted Dani call him Matt, replied.

"It's a cheap trick," Karen told him.

Dani took out the files and laid them in front of her, moving the box to the chair next to her so she could get to reorganizing as Foggy said, "We got bigger problems. Like, locking a defense. M'Naghten rule's still our best bet."

"What's that?" she asked.

"Uh, the, uh, insanity plea," Matt explained.

Karen came rushing back in. "Whoa, whoa, guys."

"We need to buy a "not guilty" verdict. My high school debate team could prove that Castle did it. We need an affirmative defense," Foggy tried to tell her.

Dani scoffed. "I'm telling you now, Frank's not going to endorse it. He's not insane."

Foggy shook his head. "I'm no doctor, but I'd say he's at least driven past Crazy Town."

"She has a point. I mean, insanity only has a 0.12% acquittal rate in New York. Reyes is just gonna call in some expert shrink witness to blow our case apart," Matt told him.

"What case?" his partner chuckled. He was right, they didn't have much to go on.

"Look, what if we push for a mistrial? We get more time. We talk about the DNR and the suits and Reyes' involvement. We get her kicked off the case," Karen suggested.

Matt added, "She wouldn't see it coming."

Foggy stood up. "If we go down that road now, we gotta prove, in a court of law, that the government willfully hid evidence of the Punisher ambush, and that Reyes was involved."

"Well, I was there and you were there-"

"We're not exactly impartial, okay?" Foggy shut Karen down. "And either way, we need an opening statement tomorrow."

"I can open with PTSD as a mitigating factor, focus on Castle's time at war," Matt suggested.

Dani shook her head. "I hate having to shoot down all your ideas here guys, but there's no way. Frank won't go for it. He doesn't have PTSD. I've dealt with a lot of vets with it and he has no signs of it from war or from... he won't agree."