Ah, another good one. Very well written and well paced(although the flashbacks were a little annoying). It started out strong with the rape scene and the ending was good and it didn't feel forced.

The characters were well developed and the dialog was good.

It fit the genre and theme, so that's always good.

I'll give it a A-

~Zack~

A little late, I guess, but thanks to all for reading. A lot of complaints about the verdict, which I not only expected but hoped for. It's supposed to be bullshit. Fact is people can use self defense and still get convicted. I did try to give the jury some reason to convict him though. I guess my reason wasn't good enough. As for the nonlinear narrative, I guess I just wanted to try something different. I felt the order propelled the story better emotionally than if it were linear. Plus sticking the rape scene in the middle instead of the begining would make it seem silly and gratuitous and the rest of the story would feel really disjointed and rushed. As for Stan being a weak character, he is. I wanted a character who really wouldn't be able to handle prison as opposed to someone who was predesposed to the environment (e.g. a criminal). Finally, Stan kills Miles so that a member of his gang would kill him in retalliation. It's basically assisted suicide, in a weird sort of way. Stan is "married" (not the greatest term to describe the relationship IMO but it's the most commonly used) to Miles so he's not in any danger of being harmed by anyone else in the prison while he's alive.

Thanks again.