The trial was fast and efficient. Even the man whose trial it was couldn’t help but be astonished by and respectful of the seamless grace of the proceedings, free as the were of all tedium and obstacle. There were no motions of continuance, no evidentiary discovery, no securing of witnesses. No one bothered to indulge in jury mix-and-match. No jury was assembled. The court did not see fit to make time for persuasion or argument. There was no room for suggestion that the facts given were not quite the facts as they were. No, the facts were the facts. They were stated plainly, almost pointedly so, by the prosecutor and absorbed by the judge, sitting at his bench statuesque and priestly, with his eyes closed as if in meditation.