Legal Opinion: Commander Shepard Must be Court-Martialled

[News Portal]

Like the rest of us, resident lawyer Patrick Vuleta has been playing [app=7843]Mass Effect 3[/app] — mostly reloading the Kelly love scene over and over again. Today he argues that Commander Shepard gets away with too much — she must be court-martialled, and face the consequences of her actions.

Read full article by Patrick Vuleta

[PalZer0]

Admit it Marius. You made your Shepard look like Leliana.

[FryzieDelta]

In Shepard's defence:

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Liara, Tali and Jack are neither Alliance nor Cerberus members and are instead friends helping out of the goodness of their hearts (or otherwise). It is even specifically stated in ME1 that Shepard is allowed to date Liara but not Ashley (but can go ahead and do it anyway).

Shepard may desert the Alliance, but in ME2 he can be reinstated as a Spectre working for the Council even though they are fully aware of his relationship with Cerberus.

Not sure about civilian casualties though, ME3 still hasn't arrived at my doorstep so I'll have to find out later I guess. But Batarians are ugly and they're all slavers, so mass murdering them is fine in my books

[gmcleod]

After Arrival she was told she'd have to come home and answer for her crimes, yet in the introduction of ME3 it appears she had instead been confined comfortably for 6 months without trial. She was too important to court-martial, which in all fairness would have resulted in discharge.

Also, Council Spectres can do whatever the hell they want. This was a fairly prevalent issue in the first game, where there were some questions about Shepards loyalty to the Alliance, or to the Council. Even if the Alliance dishonored Shepard, the Council might still find a use for her.

[aggabo]

And yet he/she is the only one able to get the job done...

It's like that in all situations.. if your worth some thing people won't lock you away.

[Mythor]

Sleeping with subordinates—not allowed

Many of the romance options are with comrades, not subordinates. Your Shepard may have abused her position of authority, doesn't mean everyone did!
Characters like Liara, Tali and Garrus are all on board as comrades in arms either as private citizens or representatives of their own governments/military forces. Jack, during ME2, was a private citizen. Etc.

But getting to Kelly specifically, she was a Cerberus Operative, not Alliance military, so any repercussions would depend on Cerberus regulations, not military law. Any relationship with her would therefore not be subject to a court-martial, rather it might lead to her sacking from the organisation.
Or, more likely, a promotion based on forging a strong tie with Shepard, potentially keeping her on their side to do what the Illusive Man wanted her to do...

Desertion and aiding the enemy—not allowed

Shepard was KIA and, during her tenure working alongside Cerberus they were not an outlawed organisation. This is evidenced by certain Citadel security systems being provisioned by Cerberus in ME3.
The military had declared her dead, not deserted and Cerberus wasn't the enemy at the time. No case to answer.

Reckless disregard for civilian casualties—not allowed

Your Shepard, not everyone's Shepard.
Reckless disregard is not allowed but if the casualties can be justified, they're allowed. I don't know the circumstances surrounding condemning billions to die so I don't know if your Shepard would have been able to justify it in the context of the greater war.
My Shepard's in the clear on that one, too!

[Synthesis]

doesn't being a spectre (get the job done at any cost) mean Shepard only answers to the council and has immunity against any action they take to get it done

[mausti]

its a terrible game so what did you really expect

[Marius]

Shepard was KIA and, during her tenure working alongside Cerberus they were not an outlawed organisation. This is evidenced by certain Citadel security systems being provisioned by Cerberus in ME3.
The military had declared her dead, not deserted and Cerberus wasn't the enemy at the time. No case to answer.

I thought of that, but then the Alliance starts giving Shepard orders in The Arrival DLC.

Also you fight Cerberus in ME1 I thought.

Anyway, the overall point of the article was that ME3 lacked consequence gravity and you needed your choices to matter more.

[FryzieDelta]

...during her tenure working alongside Cerberus they were not an outlawed organisation....
...Cerberus wasn't the enemy at the time.

If the council survives into ME2, they state that Cerberus is an enemy of the Council.

I thought of that, but then the Alliance starts giving Shepard orders in The Arrival DLC.

Not orders, it's a personal request from General Hakket.

[Burty13]

EA/Bioware need to be Court-Martialled.

[Toasty Fresh]

Nice Shepard. Facecode pls

[Marius]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

I'll answer them as best as I can.

Many of the romance options are with comrades, not subordinates.

I think prejudicial conduct is broad enough enough to encompass that. There isn't actually any specific law against sexual relations on a ship, it's just 'whatever would upset the ship and the chain of command'. Sleeping with civilian 'comrades' still falls into that. So yes, Liara romances are still a no-go.

And I don't think you'll find any modern day commander who thinks getting it on with a war correspondent in their ship is a good idea.

The military had declared her dead, not deserted and Cerberus wasn't the enemy at the time. No case to answer.

But...

That's not necessarily how Shepard sees it.

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During the Cerberus base mission, Shepard describes it as being knocked out for two years, nothing more.

If Shepard post-resurrection is still Shepard, then it's still desertion. I admit I'm not quite up to scratch on the laws regarding death and resurrection though.

My Shepard's in the clear on that one, too!

Yes, some Shepards will be. But the overall point I was trying to make is that Shepard does a lot of things she doesn't have to answer for. The final ending of ME3 absolves her of all responsibility. I don't agree with it, so wanted to write an article on this which came at it from a different angle.

doesn't being a spectre (get the job done at any cost) mean Shepard only answers to the council and has immunity against any action they take to get it done

Yes but it's still a cop-out for the above reasons.

Nice Shepard. Facecode pls

Thanks - I'll find it and post it up.

Admit it Marius. You made your Shepard look like Leliana.

Actually she was blonde in ME2.

[Mythor]

Many of the romance options are with comrades, not subordinates.

I think prejudicial conduct is broad enough enough to encompass that. There isn't actually any specific law against sexual relations on a ship, it's just 'whatever would upset the ship and the chain of command'. Sleeping with civilian 'comrades' still falls into that. So yes, Liara romances are still a no-go.
And I don't think you'll find any modern day commander who thinks getting it on with a war correspondent in their ship is a good idea.

A court-martial is typically for breaches of military law. Fraternisation between the enlisted and civilian support staff might be discouraged (ie; a transfer elsewhere) but it's not something worthy of court-martial.

[Marius]

But that is a breach of military law, from my understanding of it.

Military law does not just govern soldier-soldier interactions. If a soldier does something to a civilian which affects the military in some way, then that can be court martialled.

Here is a quote on the subject:

In the US Armed Forces the offence is covered by article 134 (the "general article") of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). This section states that "all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces" shall be tried by court martial and punished at the discretion of that court. The general article also covers offences which bring discredit upon the armed forces and "crimes and offenses not capital".[11]

The UCMJ requires that all acts be directly prejudicial to good order and discipline. Examples of misconduct prosecuted under the act includes a Chief Petty Officer "cross dressing in public view", a Sergeant who mooned another servicemember's wife and a seaman making unauthorised long distance calls. Examples of conduct listed in the Manual for Courts-Martial include adultery, bribery, fraternization, gambling, straggling, and indecent language.[6]

I understand that in some cases fraternisation between officers and civilian support staff may not be frowned upon, but the squad members in Mass Effect are hardly civilian support staff. They fight as troops. To argue that they're civilians is a technicality.

But to bring this back to the main theme of the article, it would be great to see this theme explored in the romances, rather than just a porno before the final mission. It would give them much-needed weight.

It's like how the James Bond novels really did explore his status as an officer. But the movies just turned him into a playboy because that was the lowest common denominator. The latest Bond movies tried to bring that aspect back a bit.

Nice Shepard. Facecode pls

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