I address this to the people of the jury. A moral defense must be made for Luigi Mangione. Luigi’s defense counsel will appear in court to represent him by law, but I wish to be his defense counsel in the court of morality. Of course the murder of the corporate Executive was justified. This must be stated plainly first. If one person steps on the many, isn’t it obvious the many will try to step on that one person right back? The Executive was obviously guilty of vagrancy and adultery. For those two crimes, punishment by death is more than reasonable. Vagrancy and adultery have always been crimes considered morally low. They disturb the streets and homes of the city.
You may ask, how was the Executive a vagrant and an adulterer? Well the first charge should be blindingly clear to anyone who was aware of the Executive’s occupation. Did they not solely take and never give? A vagrant is one who begs and begs, receives and receives, but will never return the favor. I say to the jury, if your parents promised you shelter after you became an adult wouldn’t it be clear they were vagrants as well? Because surely they would expect you to care for them into old age, correct? For this the same punishment should be levied towards your parents, shouldn’t it? Furthermore, what about a neighbor who always asks to borrow things? Aren’t they too a vagrant who deserves the same punishment as the Executive? I say to the people of the jury, and I say this pleading, if not death how else can you hold vagrancy at bay?
Now what about the charge of adultery? Isn’t adultery fundamentally having a commitment to someone and betraying them? The corporation the Executive controlled made many promises and commitments, didn’t it? Millions I might add? Did they fulfill their commitments, or did they obfuscate and betray? The punishment of death has time immemorial been associated with adultery. People of the jury, if your spouse committed adultery against you, shouldn’t that be punishable by death?
And further, the jury must consider the Executive’s subordinates: weren’t their actions conducive to the Executive’s crimes? Didn’t each person in the Executive’s corporation actually commit the same crimes as him? Top to bottom? Wouldn’t the janitor who cleans the coffee the Executive spills be implicated in the crimes of the Executive too? But the Executive is just the face of the corporation, aren’t they? Anyone could be the Executive, which means the crimes are really committed by the Corporation. The Corporation’s policies are those that bring about vagrancy and adultery. Doesn’t the Corporation make those crimes its business? The Corporation profits off of begging and benefiting from others without giving back, right? It profits off making commitments to people and breaking them.
But is the Corporation real? Of course not, the Corporation is a legal fiction. The government’s laws allow for the Corporation to exist. Because the Corporation is really just a veil for business activities done by the people. It’s for the people to mitigate liability and to distribute equity and debts in a formalized system. The Corporation doesn’t exist without the people. Again, the Corporation is a fiction, it doesn’t actually exist. No People, no corporation. Doesn’t this mean the People are the criminals?
Each Person, no matter how high or low on the totem pole, props up the corporation with their actions, don’t they? Because the executive answers to the shareholders and the board of trustees, and the People work hard to hand deliver the results the executive wants. I profess to the jury, the People at every corporation should be held accountable for their vagrancy and adultery. Don’t worry People of the jury, that doesn’t include you. Don’t those below the executive, the People, mindlessly carry out their orders? Isn’t each corporation like that? They are all vagrants and adulterers. Each corporation has its own executive, and is made up by the People. So I ask the jury, what did we say was the punishment for the executive, the corporation, and the People again?
AgoraLogica 
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