Beginning the Beginning

The judge wandered into the room. He took his time and sat down, smoothing his gray hair involuntarily with his right hand as he did so. He asked the jury an important question:

"Jurors, as to the charge of first-degree murder, how do you find the defendant?"

A man, wearing a three-button suit and an outrageous tie, stood up. He blinked three times, uneasily, before opening an envelope and withdrawing a piece of paper.

"We the jury," he said, "do find the defendant, Robert Salham Gates..." he paused, swallowed, his voice trembling. "...We find the defendant, Robert Salham Gates, on the charge of murder in the first degree of Ms. Penelope Rasler...guilty."

Chaos. Pandemonium.

Only one man in the room knew that they had tried and found guilty the wrong man.