I wanted to hear from the legal minds of the Severance community. I had this thought while re-watching Law and Order last night. I genuinely want to know how the situation would go. Sometimes I ask myself, should severed people get to vote twice? I feel like Helly and Helena will not make same political decisions. Anyway -

The Murder On the Severed Floor

• The Incident
  • Ben Sommers, a severed employee, wakes up on the elevator of Lumon building to be informed that his innie, Ben S, has murdered his floor manager Adam Scout in the break room by smashing glass into the victim's head.
  • The victim's wife, suspicious about her husband's absence, had hired a private investigator and bribed the security guard to obtain security tapes. Lumon admits to the murder case. Ben gets arrested on the spot.
  • Due to a procedure colloquially known as severance, Ben's memories are bifurcated, meaning, he does not have any recollection of the events that unfolded on the severed floor.
  • Ben Sommers insists that he and Ben S are two different people, and that he is innocent despite what his "innie has done". Ben Sommers has never met Adam Scout nor has he never set foot in the break room.
  • Despite his lawyer's advice, he wishes to go to trial with not-guilty verdict.
• Legal Arguments

  • His lawyer, Dennis Erickson has a different idea. He meets up with the AD and comes up with a deal. Ben is given two options.

    • Option A: Ben's innie, Ben S, spends time in prison for 12 hours each day, and goes home at the end of the day. Ben serves 3 years sentence for manslaughter.
    • Option B: Ben's prison sentence his reduced in half, he serves 1 year for involuntary manslaughter, will likely walk in 6 months with good behavior.

  • Ben talks to his wife, and decides to go with option a, so he can spend time with his partner and his children.

• The Controversy
  • Adam's wife is furious with the DA. She insists that "Ben Sommers is still Ben Sommers" and that he should not be alleviate for his crimes just because "he had conveniently decided to slice up his brain"
  • She talks to the media, saying if Ben Sommers gets to sleep in a comfortable bed with his wife, that means Ben S gets to sleep in a comfortable bed with his wife, while she is left without her husband.
  • Ben's lawyer Erickson appears on CNN and argues that "our legal system is built to avoid a greater laps in justice of incriminating the innocent. The prosecution has no way of proving that Ben Sommers and Ben S share culpability."