The crew of the Enterprise on trial
A trial was a way to settle a dispute. In a trial, all participating parties presented information (in the form of evidence) in a formal setting. With most species within the United Federation of Planets, this was done in a court or Council, before a judge, jury, or arbiter. A trial decision was called a verdict, and was considered a just resolution to a matter. A trial was generally distinguished from a hearing in that it was usually more formal and generally took many more elements into consideration. Ultimately, a trial ended with the presiding individuals issuing judgment in the form of a ruling or sentencing. (TOS: "Court Martial")
Purpose of a trial[]
A trial consisted of a prosecutor and defender who represent the disputing parties. In most cases a trial was used to determine guilt or innocence of a defendant, while the prosecutor attempted to prove the defendant as guilty. On some worlds the trial was simply a show trial, a form of entertainment. Under Cardassian law, guilt was confirmed prior to Court proceedings. (DS9: "The Wire")
Sometimes a trial was a last resort when other possibilities were exhausted. When the Federation received an extradition request, a hearing was held to determine if enough evidence exists to warrant a trial. If it is decided that sufficient evidence exists, the charged individual is turned over to the other government and then is subject to their legal system. The Bajorans handled extradition requests in a similar fashion. (TNG: "A Matter of Perspective"; DS9: "Dax")
At Klingon trials, lawyers were called advocates. (ENT: "Judgment")
Notable trials[]
Judge Q (center)
The Q Continuum featured a Judge Q who was a high ranking official with the ability to control the powers and lives of any Q in the continuum – ranging from removal of powers to change in form. In 2377, Judge Q determined the future of Q's son, Q, after he underwent testing by the crew of the USS Voyager, following a streak of misbehaving and trouble making. After bumpy testing with problems and successes, Judge Q sentenced "Junior" to serve his life as a Human. This sentence was eventually changed by persuasion from Q, and his son's powers were restored. (VOY: "Q2")
Data on trial in 2365
The Salem witch trials were a series of trials held through 1691 in Salem, Massachusetts, during a period when individuals were persecuted for the alleged crime of "witchcraft". The Megans, a group of aliens from Megas-Tu who tried to help Humans with the art of wizardry, settled in Salem after realizing that Humans only wished to use them to serve greed and lust. They chose to live their lives there as "normal men" to avoid the accusations of being "devils, warlocks and evil sorcerers." Unfortunately, while living in Salem, several of the Megans made mistakes and used their powers, and were "burned for it as witches." Those Megans who escaped the witch trials were forced to leave Earth and return to their homeworld, where they remained bitter and fearful of Humans. In 2269, the USS Enterprise made contact with the Megans, but due to the Megans distrust of Humans, the Enterprise crew was placed in a recreation of a Salem witch trial. (TAS: "The Magicks of Megas-Tu")
- Orak was the prosecutor of a tribunal on Narendra III in 2153 against Captain Jonathan Archer for having aided in the escape of Arin'Sen refugees. Archer was defended by Kolos. (ENT: "Judgment")
- Areel Shaw was the prosecutor in the court-martial against Captain James T. Kirk, where he was accused of the wrongful death of Lieutenant Benjamin Finney in 2266. Kirk's was defended by Samuel T. Cogley, who exonerated Kirk by determining that Finney was, in fact, still alive. (TOS: "Court Martial")
- The Megan known as Asmodeus prosecuted the crew of the USS Enterprise as representatives of "evil" Humanity. (TAS: "The Magicks of Megas-Tu")
- General Chang prosecuted Kirk and Dr. Leonard McCoy in the Klingon tribunal looking into the death of Chancellor Gorkon. Kirk and McCoy were defended by Colonel Worf. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
- Phillipa Louvois was prosecutor against Captain Jean-Luc Picard in his court-martial regarding the loss of the USS Stargazer. Later, she served as judge in the trial called to determine Lieutenant Commander Data's status as a lifeform. In that case, Commander William T. Riker was forced to act as prosecutor. (TNG: "The Measure Of A Man")
- Duras unfairly accused and prosecuted Lt. Worf for crimes presumably committed by his father Mogh in the Khitomer Massacre. (TNG: "Sins of The Father")
- Retired Admiral Norah Satie, originally brought in to investigate the suspected sabotage of the USS Enterprise-D's warp core, later became prosecutor of sorts when Crewman Simon Tarses and Captain Picard were both suspected to be Romulan collaborators. (TNG: "The Drumhead")
- Miles O'Brien was forcibly extradited to Cardassia Prime for a tribunal in 2370 for having supposedly collaborated with the Maquis. Kovat was assigned as O'Brien's Conservator (whose actual duty was to persuade O'Brien to deliver a confession of guilt). Odo was able to get himself assigned to O'Brien as a Nestor. As was standard for Cardassian trials, a guilty verdict was predetermined, although after O'Brien's crewmates discovered evidence that the Cardassians themselves were framing O'Brien, Chief Archon Makbar chose to "set aside" the death sentence and release O'Brien. (DS9: "Tribunal")
- Captain Carol Freeman was put on trial for her supposed role in the destruction of Pakled Planet. An elite team lead by Captain Morgan Bateson was able to find evidence of Freeman’s innocence and revealed that the Pakleds themselves had destroyed their own planet and framed Freeman. Freeman herself later revealed the trial was done to convince the Pakleds their plan had worked. (LD: "Grounded")
- The young crew of the USS Protostar were put on trial for their crimes in 2384 which included stealing a Federation ship, impersonating officers and even illicitly inhabiting the mind of an esteemed admiral. One judge noted that the entire list of offenses would take him all afternoon to read. However, Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway passionately spoke up in their defense and in favor of letting the crew into Starfleet Academy. Janeway later reported that the tribunal had decided to drop all charges against the crew and, while they couldn't be fast-tracked into Starfleet Academy, five of the crew were allowed to serve as warrant officers in-training under Janeway's command. (PRO: "Supernova, Part 2")
In the first draft script of the Star Trek: Enterprise first season episode "Fortunate Son", Ryan Cross had to face a trial on Earth following his actions against the Nausicaan pirates.
Lack of a trial[]
On some worlds such as Earth, the lack of trial was considered unjust. On other worlds it was not normal to hold a trial. The Rakhari considered all crimes as serious but had no trials on their homeworld. Enemies of the government were punished by killing their family members. (DS9: "Vortex")