GALACTICA

In the original classic series, there was an episode “Murder On the Rising Star” in which Starbuck faces a trial for murder. I previously wrote about that episode in my post Law in Battlestar Galactica.

In the episode “Litmus,” the term “tribunal” is carried over from the original series, but in “Litmus,” the tribunal is more like a grand jury, whereas in “Murder On the Rising Star,” the tribunal was a trial court.

But unlike a grand jury, where the witness is traditionally immune from prosecution for anything he testifies about (at least such is the case in New York State), the tribunal in the new Battlestar Galactica offers no such protections to the witnesses.

Regarding the right to remain silent, in the United States the trier of fact is not allowed to use an invocation of the right as evidence of guilt. Strangely enough, there is a debate in the episode over whether that holds true in the Galactica universe. The sergeant/prosecutor (who appears to be a lesbian who hates men—hey don’t blame me for that description, I didn’t write the script) tells Chief Petty Officer Tyrol that his invocation of his right to remain silent will be used as evidence of his guilt. But later on, Commander Adama tells President Roslyn that silence is not evidence of guilt.

In the original classic series, there was always a tension between Commander Adama’s need to do the right thing, and annoying rules that got in the way. Usually this was seen as a conflict between Adama and the Council of Twelve (too bad all those mystical Mormon analogies are missing from the new series). In “Litmus,” the writers set up a similar conflict, between the power of the tribunal, and Commander Adama realizing that the tribunal was a witch hunt and walking out on it. Luckily for Adama, the guards were more loyal to him than the abstract concept of the rule of the military—or maybe he wasn’t lucky, he knew the guards would obey him and not the man hating lesbian.

In other developments, the Chief ends his relationship with Sharon, and furthermore seems to suspect her of leaving the hatch open. Yes, of course it was her. I was also surprised to discover that Number Six, the sexy nymphomaniac Cylon that Baltar hallucinates seems able to hurt him physically. Oooh, I love the way she manhandled him.