Once again

[FrodeauxB at aol.com]

Now they've really done it-they are laughing at themselves too.

Subj:    Toddler's Conviction Upheld, Execution Looms
Date:   4/22/01 9:28:02 AM Central Daylight Time
From:   futurefeedforward at futurefeedforward.com
To: frodeauxb at aol.com



February 11, 2088

Toddler's Conviction Upheld, Execution Looms

Tallahassee FL--A divided Florida Supreme Court today upheld the capital 
murder conviction of two-year old Jake Fritter, permitting the state to 
proceed with its plans to execute him at 12:01 am on May 1st.

    A jury convicted Fritter last January of the murder of two Dade County 
police officers during a foiled convenience store robbery, a robbery that was 
not to have taken place for nearly 30 years.  Under controversial new 
evidence rules, the prosecution introduced detailed evidence of Fritter's 
future crimes obtained through use of "temporal networking" equipment 
supplied by research and financial services giant Futurefeedforward.  "This 
is a big ruling for the good guys," notes Assistant District Attorney Gerry 
Freon.  "With the admissibility of evidence like this, we'll be able to 
prosecute perpetrators before they've committed their crimes, increasing the 
effectiveness of the System in deterring crime and saving the victims from 
unneeded suffering."

    The evidence that convicted Fritter, including high-resolution 
surveillance videos of the crime, was obtained using special computer 
networking equipment that permits communication between present-day and 
"future-side" computers.  "The evidence was of the best quality imaginable, 
very detailed, very concrete, very graphic," explains Freon.  "It wasn't 
really as difficult as we anticipated to persuade the jury of the reality of 
a crime which hadn't yet happened.  The real trick was to establish identity, 
to convince the jury that the cute little toddler they saw at the defense 
table was the same person they saw, thirty years older, in the video 
evidence."

    Speaking at a press conference after the ruling, Fritter defense attorney 
Lillian Cree descried the Court's validation of the use of evidence of future 
crimes and vowed to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.  "This is a 
travesty, yet another case of the accused being persecuted because the legal 
system doesn't yet know how to deal with a new technology.  We haven't yet 
had a chance for deliberate, democratic dialog on the weight that should be 
afforded evidence of this sort.  My client has been convicted on the basis of 
evidence of a crime that, if the sentence is carried out, we know will never 
happen.  Is that justice?"

    "It's not as confusing as the defense wants us to think," retorts ADA 
Freon.  "We can't very well ignore a crime we know is going to happen.  To do 
so would make us accessories of a sort.  The fact that a proactive 
prosecution prevents the underlying crime justifies the sentence that much 
more.  The challenge presented by a case like this is more subtle.  Because 
establishing identity was so essential to the case, we were able to justify 
delving into a number of Fritter's 'prior bad acts.'  We had to construct his 
entire future criminal career, create a sort of 'chain of custody,' in order 
to prove that the perp in the tapes is the Fritter we have in custody today.  
That let the jury hear lots of things about him that they probably wouldn't 
have normally heard.  In this case it was justified, but would it be so in 
all cases?  I don't know."

    Fritter's case has spawned a storm of litigation involving 
Futurefeedforward, the supplier of the temporal network used to gather 
evidence against Fritter.  "Our contract with the State of Florida 
specifically prohibits use of our system for purposes of this sort," notes a 
company spokesman.  "The State is in breach of the licensing agreement, and 
we have initiated suit to compel Florida to live up to its commitments."  In 
addition to commercial suits against Dade County and the State of Florida, 
the company is also contesting a host of subpoenas from prosecutors around 
the country seeking evidence of future crimes.

    Fritter's mother, Abigail Fritter, returning from a court-authorized 
visit to her son's death row cell, broke down.  "He seems to be holding up 
pretty well.  He's got his 'blankie.'  I asked him did he want anything.  He 
just looked at me and said 'Happy Meal.'  [...]  Is this right?  Is this 
America?  Jake's going to die for killing somebody who hasn't even been born 
yet.  I heard they asked for a warrant before Jakey was even born.  This is 
wrong.  This is evil.  I'm not going to let this happen!"

    Inside Florida State Prison, death row officials have begun construction 
of a miniature electric chair to accommodate Fritter.

________________________________________

You have received this story as a subscriber to futurefeedforward. 

For more stories, visit our archive at 
http://futurefeedforward.com/archive2.mv

For a history of the future, visit our timeline at 
http://futurefeedforward.com/timeline2.mv

To unscubscribe, visit http://futurefeedforward.com/e_list.mv
____________________________________