Kasidy Yates did nothing illegal

[Crewman6]

So after listening to the Delta Flyers episode for "For the Cause", an episode I quite liked but hadn't watched in years, it occurs to me that Kasidy Yates did literally nothing illegal.

All she did was deliver medical supplies. How is it remotely against the law to bring medical supplies to anyone, even criminals? It isn't!

It's technically against the US Patriot Act (which didn't exist at the time the episode was written and is a vague and deliberately obtuse law that has been roundly criticized as being unconstitutional) so there's no way such a similar law would exist in the UFP.

The show wanted to have Kasidy working for the Maquis in a "safe" way - aka not bringing them actual weapons. Which is fair. But it made it so that she isn't really guilty of any wrongdoing whatsoever.

In this instance, the standard "six month" sentence the show likes to dole out actually felt overly harsh. She clearly needed a better lawyer.

 

[Boo-khat!]

It was obvious that they wanted her character to not actually be a Maquis (because that would actually make her less sympathetic with what she was doing) and instead just be in cahoots with them but not actually engaging in any terrorist activities. And it’s more dramatic to make an example of someone that Sisko was emotionally involved with rather than just making her another Eddington.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Every broken arm she contributes to the healing of, is attached to a hand holding a phaser that can atomize a dozen green dipshit red shits before breakfast.

 

[The Vorta-lak]

Would her acts not fall under RICO? She willingly supported an organization involved in criminal activity, even if her part seemed innocent.

 

[kkt]

Apparently it was against Federation law or she wouldn't have had to be arrested and serve time.

Treason is defined in the U.S. Constitition as including "giving aid and comfort to the enemy", so if the Maquis are enemies that was treason. And I don't know what you call an armed group that shoots your officers and disables your ships other than an enemy.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Apparently it was against Federation law or she wouldn't have had to be arrested and serve time.

Treason is defined in the U.S. Constitition as including "giving aid and comfort to the enemy", so if the Maquis are enemies that was treason. And I don't know what you call an armed group that shoots your officers and disables your ships other than an enemy.

Isn't it likely that all her so called crimes were committed outside of Federation Territory?

So all they really had Kasidy on was conspiracy to do something the Federation had no authority to regulate?

 

[Crewman6]

Apparently it was against Federation law or she wouldn't have had to be arrested and serve time.

Treason is defined in the U.S. Constitition as including "giving aid and comfort to the enemy", so if the Maquis are enemies that was treason. And I don't know what you call an armed group that shoots your officers and disables your ships other than an enemy.

In warmtime, humanitarian organizations routinely give assistance to both sides of a conflict.

 

[Crewman6]

It was obvious that they wanted her character to not actually be a Maquis (because that would actually make her less sympathetic with what she was doing) and instead just be in cahoots with them but not actually engaging in any terrorist activities. And it’s more dramatic to make an example of someone that Sisko was emotionally involved with rather than just making her another Eddington.

Yes, that is clearly the intent. They made it medical supplies to keep her pure.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

She smuggled supplies through a federation starbase, was my understanding.

 

[Crewman6]

Would her acts not fall under RICO? She willingly supported an organization involved in criminal activity, even if her part seemed innocent.

That's an interesting angle, especially since the Maquis is really a criminal organization and not a nation.

What's interesting that if the Maquis never did anything outside of Cardassian space and was never dumb enough to do anything against the Federation, the Federation would have to literally do nothing at all about them. Eddington was right when he said, "you'll never hear from us again."

Anything happening inside Cardassian borders was of zero interest to the UFP and, in fact, they were forbidden from doing anything about it.

It's all obviously quite muddy and doesn't really hold together under a microscope, but it does make for compelling storytelling if you don't squint too closely.

 

[Crewman6]

She smuggled supplies through a federation starbase, was my understanding.

Medkits. Not exactly contraband.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Medkits. Not exactly contraband.

Still undeclared, cargo manifests and travel logs tempered with.
probably enough to give her some slap on the wrist.
We don't know what the punishment actually was, but i doubt it was Orange is the new Black.
Was it too much? Probably.
She also might have exploited her relationship to Sisko to a degree, which probably didn't help her cause.

 

[kkt]

Yates transported her cargo through DS9, which was Federation-administered. The Xhosa was probably registered in the Federation, so Federation law would apply aboard her ship too.

Humanitarian organizations can indeed supply enemy civilians, but they have to be registered and inspected to ensure that they are really only helping civilians, and only with medical supplies, food, etc.

If Yates didn't know what she was doing was illegal she wouldn't have been keeping it a secret. It was probably a word from Sisko as well as it being only medical supplies that got her such a light sentence.

 

[Tosk]

As Odo said, "Smuggling with intent to supply a terrorist organization is a serious offence."

Kassidy didn't just 'transport medical supplies'. She was smuggling. There's a difference.

 

[Crewman6]

Still undeclared, cargo manifests and travel logs tempered with.
probably enough to give her some slap on the wrist.
We don't know what the punishment actually was, but i doubt it was Orange is the new Black.
Was it too much? Probably.

It was six months in jail. Club Fed(eration), I'm sure.

She also might have exploited her relationship to Sisko to a degree, which probably didn't help her cause.

That seems out of character for both of them.

 

[Crewman6]

As Odo said, "Smuggling with intent to supply a terrorist organization is a serious offence."

Kassidy didn't just 'transport medical supplies'. She was smuggling. There's a difference.

Tomato/tomahto. If the cargo is perfectly legal, can it really be smuggling?

 

[kkt]

Tomato/tomahto. If the cargo is perfectly legal, can it really be smuggling?

It is if you keep it a secret and don't have your cargo that you're supplying to an enemy inspected.

 

[Ragitsu]

Seinfeld: "Adjacent to refuse is refuse."

If you (knowingly) aid a murderer in concealing his murder, you are an accessory after-the-fact.

 

[Tosk]

If the cargo is perfectly legal, can it really be smuggling?

Yes.

Cigarettes are legal, but you can still potentially go to jail for smuggling them. That is obviously not the same as what is going on in this episode, just an example.

The restrictions are what determines the legality.

 

[Crewman6]

Yes.

Cigarettes are legal, but you can still potentially go to jail for smuggling them. That is obviously not the same as what is going on in this episode, just an example.

The restrictions are what determines the legality.

Are there restrictions on band-aids?