History PlayingWith / KangarooCourt

** Alex sees Carl [[BloodSplatteredWarrior completely covered in blood]], [[PsychoKnifeNut knife in hand]], [[NakedNutter naked as a jaybird]], standing AtopAMountainOfCorpses, and LaughingMad. [[KarmaHoudini Carl is pardoned for all his crimes.]]

** It's a BlackComedy about how overly and blatantly unfair the local justice system is because Betty is a minority (Betty was not even in the same coast at the time of the crime they are trying to pin on her, for starters). They also treat her every deed and word in court (or rather [[DullSurprise lack of it]]) as [[IncriminatingIndifference hostility and contempt]]. Depending on what the author considers funny, the entire courtroom will be full of [[CondescendingCompassion passive-aggressive racists]] a la ''Film/GetOut'' or will look like a Klan jamboree.

** Alex sees Carl [[BloodSplatteredWarrior completely covered in blood]], [[PsychoKnifeNut knife in hand]], [[NakedNutter naked as a jaybird]], and LaughingMad. [[KarmaHoudini Carl is pardoned for all his crimes.]]

* '''Played for Laughs''': Betty is a HateSink who, among other things, loves to inflict DisproportionateRetribution over 'offences' that never even occurred. While they do have enough real dirt on her to give her the desired sentence anyway, the heroes decide it'd be more [[ItAmusedMe fun]] and [[LaserGuidedKarma karmic]] to [[PayEvilUntoEvil put her through a mock trial]] that uses InsaneTrollLogic to convict her of bizarre things.

** Alex sees Carl [[BloodSplatteredWarrior completely covered in blood]], [[PsychoKnifeNut knife in hand]], and LaughingMad. [[KarmaHoudini Carl is pardoned for all his crimes]].

** [[PhysicalGod Betty]] sits through an entire fair trial up until the guilty verdict for [[BlueAndOrangeMorality a crime she doesn't even recognize the concept of]]. She interupts it and declares she has had enough of these arrogant mortals and teleports off. The trial is thus a farce not because of rulings but because it has no power over Betty.

** Alex alternates between evaluating each claim based on evidence, letting defendants off based on no evidence, and condemning defendants based on no evidence.

** The work is set in a real-life or [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed thinly disguised]] FictionalCounterpart of a nation that was or is an absolute monarchy, a PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny, or some other dictatorship with these.

* '''Straight''': [[HangingJudge Judge Alex]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Hangman]] decides that Betty is guilty of murder, without any evidence, and throws her into jail for life with no possibility of parole for at least fifteen years.

** Betty is so obviously innocent that the court is growing increasingly ''desperate'' to find something they can convict her for. They go from maintaining a professional façade and logical-seeming arguments to InsaneTrollLogic and drawing nonsensical links between insignificant details just to twist Betty's words enough to get ''something'' they can charge her with. The trial starts with her being blamed for a murder, but by the end they're trying to get her on tax evasion, and finally convict her when the evidence is twisted just enough to resemble the outline of a case for jaywalking in thick fog.

* '''Averted''': Alex is a fair judge.

** MoralGuardians want the author to add a scene to show just how much of a bastard a group was and decides to do it by having the hanging judge.

* '''Played for Laughs''': Betty is a HateSink who, among other things, loves to inflict DisproportionateRetribution over 'offences' that never even occurred. While they do have enough real dirt on her to give her the desired sentence anyway, the heroes decide it'd be more [[ItAmusedMe fun]] and [[LaserGuidedKarma karmic]] to [[KickTheSonOfABitch put her through a mock trial]] that uses InsaneTrollLogic to convict her of bizarre things.

* '''Played for Drama''': Betty's unfairly-delivered unfair sentence ruins her life.

* '''Straight''': [[HangingJudge Judge Alex]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Hangman]] decides that Betty is guilty of murder, without any evidence, and throws her into jail for 15 years with no parole.

* '''Inverted''': Betty killed someone, but she is acquitted by the judge and declared innocent despite evidence to the contrary.

* '''Subverted''': The trial seems staged to Betty, but it is not--it simply follows the rules of [[BlueAndOrangeMorality a very different legal system.]]

* '''Double Subverted''': But even by that system's standards, it is horribly unfair.

** Alex 'tries' Betty ''after'' she's imprisoned or killed for her alleged crime.
** Betty is so obviously innocent that the court is growing increasingly ''desperate'' to find something they can convict her for. They go from maintaining a professional facade and logical-seeming arguments to InsaneTrollLogic and drawing nonsensical links between insignificant details just to twist Betty's words enough to get ''something'' they can charge her with. The trial starts with her being blamed for a murder, but by the end they're trying to get her on tax evasion, and finally convict her when the evidence is twisted just enough to barely resemble a case for j-walking.

* '''Lampshaded''': "Hey, did you realize that the number of convictions has risen five-fold after Alex was appointed as a judge?" "Yeah, I wonder why..."

** Alex is known for his 'trials' so Betty's friends, rather than try to clear her name, simply [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim kill him and throw him a ditch]]. In absence of evidence and [[MakeAnExampleOfThem not wanting what happened to Judge Alex to happen to her,]] his successor Carol dismisses her case.

* '''Played for Laughs''': Betty is a HateSink who, among other things, loves to inflict DisproportionateRetribution over 'offences' that never even occurred. While they do have enough real dirt on her to give her the desired sentence anyway, the heroes decide it'd be more [[ItAmusedMe fun]] and karmic to [[KickTheSonOfABitch put her through a mock trial]] that uses InsaneTrollLogic to convict her of bizarre things.

* '''Played for Laughs''': Betty is a HateSink who, among other things, loves to inflict DisproportionateRetribution over 'offences' that never even occurred. While they do have enough real dirt on her to give her the desired sentence anyway, the heroes decide it'd be more [[CatharsisFactor fun]] and karmic to [[KickTheSonOfABitch put her through a mock trial]] that uses InsaneTrollLogic to convict her of bizarre things.

** Betty (1) lives under [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny a dictatorship]], (2) has a fairly established reputation of [[LaResistance an active dissident and Resistance member]], and (3) is tried for an alleged murder of a StateSec agent. Since the regime considers her an enemy of the state already, why should the judges think otherwise?

** Betty is so obviously innocent the court is relying on ridiculously tangential links and InsandTrollLogic just to get ''something'' they can accuse her of.