I agree though that the circumstances were jarring. Whenever a judge on a tv show says, "I'd like to hear this" or "I'm going to allow it" my eyes tend to do a little sommersault.

Me too. Also, here, I don't care what the panel says they want to hear, once Lee stopped "testifying" and started making a summation, I would object. Just to break up the flow of that. Sheesh Colonial Attorney Who We Have Not Seen Before These Episodes, you never let a "witness" get on roll like that.

Also, how could you NOT cross Lee after that? How about asking: "So, in your view, should we pardon the person who let the Cylons through our defenses 2 years ago?" It's a legit question in response to Lee's "testimony". It also has the added benefit at being a subtle reference to Baltar's other big crime.

"So, in your view, should we pardon the person who let the Cylons through our defenses 2 years ago?" It's a legit question in response to Lee's "testimony". It also has the added benefit at being a subtle reference to Baltar's other big crime.

It would have been a good question to ask. However, the answer is that it doesn't matter. Blanket pardon means blanket pardon.

A new day requires new thinking, and while I had intended on using this occasion as an opportunity to announce the formation of a special prosecutor's office charged with investigating acts of collaboration with the enemy; I have decided instead that a different gesture is called for on this, the first day of my next term as your president. We all feel the need for justice, and we all feel the need for vengeance, and telling the difference between the two can be difficult at times. We are all victims of the Cylons, and none of us can be impartial. I certainly can't. So today I am forming a commission on truth and reconciliation to hear our stories and record them for posterity. There will be no prosecutions. I am issuing a general pardon for every human being in this fleet.

It would have been a good question to ask. However, the answer is that it doesn't matter. Blanket pardon means blanket pardon.

But the blanket pardon Roslin gave did not apply to Baltar -- otherwise he could not have been tried in the first place.

Also, Lee's answer to the question does matter. The jury -- and many of the citizens in the fleet -- might be willing to accept that pardoning these various offenses since the Cylon Attack is appropriate in light of the circumstances. I have a feeling that many of them have done despirate things since then and could hopefully find a way to accept the pardoning of others. But the person who helped bring about the original Cylon Attack -- that is different sin/crime. I don't think that the jurors or most of the fleet would accept the idea of pardoning that person. If Lee argues for a pardon, then he may lose the jury. If he admits that the culpability for the original attack is different, then the prosecutor can argue that Baltar's crimes on New Caprica are also different from the others that Lee discussed.

Also, Lee's answer to the question does matter. The jury -- and many of the citizens in the fleet -- might be willing to accept that pardoning these various offenses since the Cylon Attack is appropriate in light of the circumstances. I have a feeling that many of them have done despirate things since then and could hopefully find a way to accept the pardoning of others. But the person who helped bring about the original Cylon Attack -- that is different sin/crime. I don't think that the jurors or most of the fleet would accept the idea of pardoning that person. If Lee argues for a pardon, then he may lose the jury. If he admits that the culpability for the original attack is different, then the prosecutor can argue that Baltar's crimes on New Caprica are also different from the others that Lee discussed.

Right, plus if you're the prosecutor, you just don't want the panel's last thought to be 'blanket pardon'. You want it to be about Baltar's sins.

Yep. And I wonder if Moore did not give the prosecutor the last word -- or have her raise these points -- because to do so would make too difficult to get Baltar acquitted.

But then that prosecutor was no prize. I mean, when Lee got Roslin to admit that she was taking a substance that caused halucinations, the prosecutor should have established that Roslin was only recently taking that stuff. Then the prosecutor could have shown that Roslin's testimony on the stand was consistent with her earlier statements about what happened. This would undercut Lee's implied argument that Roslin's testimony in court was not accurate or reliable.

Goober lawyer.

Maybe all their good lawyers were killed in the apocalypse, and the surviving ones are just nugget lawyers?

Maybe. Maybe they just need to get Joseph Adama's law books back from Lee and read up on this stuff. Or watch old re-runs of "Law & Order: Caprica."

How about asking: "So, in your view, should we pardon the person who let the Cylons through our defenses 2 years ago?" It's a legit question in response to Lee's "testimony".

But they don't know about that, they have no evidence for it, and that wasn't what he was on trial for. Roslin had a deathbed "memory" of seeing Baltar with Six before the attack. And even Roslin doesn't really know what it means; she assumes he was knowingly collaborating with the Cylons back then. And, well, he wasn't.

The prosecutor explicitly said that at the beginning of the first part -- that Baltar was on trial for collaborating with the enemy on New Caprica, because that's the only thing there was actual evidence for.

Plus, enabling the original attack is hat he was thrown in the brig for back in season one, and then Gaeta found out that Baltar was framed. By the Cylons. Who'd want to hand all of that to Romo?

But they don't know about that, they have no evidence for it, and that wasn't what he was on trial for.

Yes. Absolutely. That's why it's such a great question. The issue for lawyers is whether she had a good faith basis to ask it. She does. Lee's "testimony" about wrongdoers being pardoned didn't just open the door to the issue of the parameters of what actions should be pardoned -- it kicked the door right off the hinges and blew a big hole in the wall as well. By asking about the culpability and pardonability of anyone who was complicit in the original attack, the prosecutor – under the guise of asking about the logical extension of Lee’s position, brings the jury’s attention and emotions back to why they are all so far from their homes in the first place. She doesn’t need to directly accuse Baltar of being complicit in the original attack (and she can’t – I agree with you on this), but the very question pushes Baltar’s situation away from the other examples Lee mentioned.

Plus, if Baltar had reacted to the question, the jury might have seen guilt in his expression. Which, again, helps the prosecution.

And, Strega is, unsurprisingly, smarter than I am.

I was thinking there must be a reason they wouldn't have mentioned that. I do think though, that fairness would say that Baltar would fall under the blanket pardon. I think the trial was always intended for show.

And now his punishment is, though he may not be guilty of a crime, the cool kids still don't like him.

He is also soooo going to fuck up with his little craxy cult.