Do you think Gary should plead guilty in court?

[Anna Bookowski]

While I would not want Gary to plead guilty since we all dream about doing things that we'd never actually do, the evidence against him may make matters worse if he does plead guilty. So while morally, I want him to plead not guilty, it might be easier for him to plead guilty and request a plea bargain.

It seems that even though he did commit the crime, he should not be punished too hard. But then, if the court would make an exception for him with such an otherworldly explanation, this could result in more similar cases and people would start to abuse this way of excuse. Everyone could say they were possessed when killing someone or committing a different sort of crime. So I wonder what is the right response of the court in this situation... I think we all feel this Gary isn't really guilty, but again, the other Gary is not really a different person - it's the same guy, just from another timeline.

[Anna Bookowski]

No, HE didn’t do it. I know that it’s hard to believe and even harder to explain. Taking a plea that is not true is lying.

Well, it's hard to agree with you, because he DID do it. Not consciously, not from his own will, but he did it. The circumstances were completely crazy, but still, it doesn't change the fact of what happened. It's more the matter of asking if you do something unconsciously - does it make you guilty?

[Anna Bookowski]

While I would not want Gary to plead guilty since we all dream about doing things that we'd never actually do, the evidence against him may make matters worse if he does plead guilty. So while morally, I want him to plead not guilty, it might be easier for him to plead guilty and request a plea bargain.

True, that is very correct. But he wont be able to live with himself afterwards. He did kill her, physically, but pschologically he didnt. Maybe pleading not guilty and not being able to make a plea bargine is a form of punishing himself.

I also can't imagine how to live further after something like this happens to you. I think personally I would break down. But there's one more aspect of the story that everyone seems to ignore: if we get to understand that all these Garys from different worldlines are in fact the same person, only following different scenarios, a new question appears: what if we are capable of things we would never expect from ourselves? What if - when triggered by some special circumstances - we could actually do terrible things? It's quite often that we hear news saying about unbelievable murder stories and all the witnesses say: "This was such a nice, calm person" , "He was so kind and caring", "He always helped his neighbors and volunteered in animal shelter". And then one day, this person does something so terrible out of an impulse. Obviously, it's hard to imagine, but these things really happen, aren't they?

[yomide]

Seriously this is a complicated question. Should Gary plead guilty? No matter how i look at it, no matter the prepective, no matter whose point of view. I still derieve at the same answer, a complicated one. But really it doesnt matter if he pleads guilty or not, Michelle is dead, there is no reversing it.

[SunVixen]

Technically, it was Gary who killed Michelle. After all, it was his hand that took the knife and killed her.
However, he did not understand what he was doing at this moment. His hand was ruled by Gary from another world. He is as much to blame for this murder as the knife with which Michelle was killed. It is the same as if he committed murder under hypnosis. It would be fair if the judges took this circumstance into account.

[Anna Bookowski]

Seriously this is a complicated question. Should Gary plead guilty? No matter how i look at it, no matter the prepective, no matter whose point of view. I still derieve at the same answer, a complicated one. But really it doesnt matter if he pleads guilty or not, Michelle is dead, there is no reversing it.

I hear you. All the answers somehow bring us back to the initial question, and nothing seems solved after all. In this worldline Michelle is dead. But maybe we can draw some comfort from the realization that she's also alive in many other ones? And that if all possibilities must happen (in this case we had an insight just in a few of an unfinished number of them), then whatever Gary does here, doesn't really matter. There's a very high probability that in one of the other worldlines Michelle died after a skiing accident. It's like we need to go through everything, whatever might be. It brings me - again - to think that we have no free will in traditional understanding, and it seems more and more realistic that we are only a simulation/computer program, working on a determined algorithm. And how freaky is that?!

[Anna Bookowski]

Technically, it was Gary who killed Michelle. After all, it was his hand that took the knife and killed her.
However, he did not understand what he was doing at this moment. His hand was ruled by Gary from another world. He is as much to blame for this murder as the knife with which Michelle was killed. It is the same as if he committed murder under hypnosis. It would be fair if the judges took this circumstance into account.

You're right, I totally agree. However, there's one more issue if the judge takes the unusual circumstances into account. As someone else noticed before, this could result in more and more criminals using the same line of defense later on. This way everyone might try to excuse their crimes by saying they don't remember anything because they were possessed at the moment of committing the crime. So in this case the consequences could be really terrible. And as much as I also believe that Gary should not have a heavy sentence on account of him being unconscious, I'm really confused about what the court should decide to make it fair after all.

[marta baglioni]

That's an excellent question! I personally don't think he should plead guilty. The intent is an important factor in a verdict and he was all but willing to hurt Michelle.
It's interesting though thinking that, given the nature of the Multiverse, he certainly pleaded guilty in another line.

[yomide]

No, HE didn’t do it. I know that it’s hard to believe and even harder to explain. Taking a plea that is not true is lying.

Well, it's hard to agree with you, because he DID do it. Not consciously, not from his own will, but he did it. The circumstances were completely crazy, but still, it doesn't change the fact of what happened. It's more the matter of asking if you do something unconsciously - does it make you guilty?

Now that would be a very complicated question. From the everyones point of view, Gary is very guilty. I mean there is a video clip for crying out loud. Not being conscious of his action can only legally be written off as insane; Gary isnt insane. Really, i dont think i can be the judge of whether or not Gary should plead guilty.

[yomide]

Seriously this is a complicated question. Should Gary plead guilty? No matter how i look at it, no matter the prepective, no matter whose point of view. I still derieve at the same answer, a complicated one. But really it doesnt matter if he pleads guilty or not, Michelle is dead, there is no reversing it.

I hear you. All the answers somehow bring us back to the initial question, and nothing seems solved after all. In this worldline Michelle is dead. But maybe we can draw some comfort from the realization that she's also alive in many other ones? And that if all possibilities must happen (in this case we had an insight just in a few of an unfinished number of them), then whatever Gary does here, doesn't really matter. There's a very high probability that in one of the other worldlines Michelle died after a skiing accident. It's like we need to go through everything, whatever might be. It brings me - again - to think that we have no free will in traditional understanding, and it seems more and more realistic that we are only a simulation/computer program, working on a determined algorithm. And how freaky is that?!

While I would not want Gary to plead guilty since we all dream about doing things that we'd never actually do, the evidence against him may make matters worse if he does plead guilty. So while morally, I want him to plead not guilty, it might be easier for him to plead guilty and request a plea bargain.

It seems that even though he did commit the crime, he should not be punished too hard. But then, if the court would make an exception for him with such an otherworldly explanation, this could result in more similar cases and people would start to abuse this way of excuse. Everyone could say they were possessed when killing someone or committing a different sort of crime. So I wonder what is the right response of the court in this situation... I think we all feel this Gary isn't really guilty, but again, the other Gary is not really a different person - it's the same guy, just from another timeline.

That's really indept. People are like that, that privilege will be abused. Just because Gary sys he isn't in control of his actions doesn't warrant an extra credit. Now we are talking if he get off the crime with him pleading not guilty (like in the green line). The legal and generalized method and style of investigating crimes and giving verdicts would change drastically.

[Acalaue João]

Even if he does plead guilty. He will now that he's innocent and the respect he is supposed to pay to the victim parents won't be valued. So I think no. He didn't kill her and there's no need to take responsibility for the crime.

[Mariana Figueira]

Pleading guilty would mean lying in court because he'd be confessing something that he doesn't remember, so that's a bit dishonest. I wonder if pleading guilty would have helped to reduce the sentence in the worldline he went to jail, but what would that have meant to Gary's parents? In the end, I was okay with him pleading not guilty.

[Njokime]

I do not think he should. He was not in control of his mind or body. A version of himself is not guilty. Therefore, it is not fair for him to plead guilty.

[AbhyarnaAman]

Gary should plead guilty as in this worldline if anyone could be accounted for Michelle's murder, it was him. Although, I believe his sentence should not be a harsh one as he did not commit the crime consciously.

[TheMazeRunner]

I think Gary should not plead guilty because he doesn't know what is going on. If he remembered he harmed Michelle, who he loved so much, he should then plead guilty. But in this case, he deserves another chance.