Verdict

We, the Jury, duly impaneled and sworn, upon our oaths, do find the defendant, of her own free will, as to Count One, guilty of First-degree Murder. Four jurors find the Act premeditated. Zero jurors find the Act a felony murder. Eight jurors find the Act both premeditated and a felony murder. Signed by Jury Foreperson, Juror Number 12.
Remaining members of the Jury, I’m now going to ask you individually if this is your true and correct Verdict. Please respond yes or no. Juror Number 11, is this your true and correct Verdict?
YES.
A singularity of infinite density and temperature unfolds. The Big Bang reifies the Universe. Spacetime expands. Subatomic randomness paradoxically conceives causality, inescapable laws of nature. The Universe cools. Gas clouds, stars, galaxies form. Earth forms. Across the planet, various molecules, her ancestors, begin to self-replicate.

Juror Number 10, is this your true and correct Verdict?
YES.
Earth’s merciless environments destroy innumerable lines of self-replicating molecules. A handful endure and grow more complex. DNA, genes, bacteria, archaea, eukarya form. Her ancestors begin to have sex, further protecting their evolving genes from extreme environmental changes. Consciousness and intelligence boom among her predecessors to maintain warm bloodedness, regularly acquire nutritious food, compete for mates. Her ancestors select mates with genes that actuate high levels of violence.
Juror Number 9, is this your true and correct Verdict?
YES.
Her ancestors begin to predict the consequences of their actions on the world, increasing the inclination for premeditated violence and mating success. The frontal cortex of her predecessors grows larger, capable of reason and developing convincing yet imperfect explanatory models and metamodels of the world. Her ancestors create superstitions to fill in gaps within these models when empirical evidence is either unavailable or incompatible.
Juror Number 8, is this your true and correct Verdict?
YES.
Her predecessors dominate the animal and plant kingdoms as nomadic pastoralists. They invent religions, moral codes, warrior classes. Her ancestral tribes compete for resources, begetting cultures of honor, retributive violence, clan vendettas. Tribal elders intuit the notion of free will to promote adherence to religious and moral codes, foundations of the societal values in which she is raised millennia later.
Juror Number 7, is this your true and correct Verdict?
YES.
She is a fertilized egg. The MAOA gene, the “warrior gene,” is passed down to her. It increases her propensity for antisocial behavior and disproportionate aggression. Her father abandons her pregnant mother, whose elevated stress hormones induce permanent epigenetic changes in her fetal self. Her amygdala, the “fear center” of her fetal brain, is more prone to excitability. She is destined to a life of overabundant stress hormones, chronic …

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