Faolan clenches his teeth hard. He will admit, Sirius isn't selling things for himself very well, nor had he done so in the moment of the trial itself for that matter. But he supposes that's where he should come in. He was not there at the original time of the crime itself. But he is here now.

"One of his closest friends had been murdered," Faolan protests. "Would any of you be accountable for your own actions if someone you cared for lay inexplicably dead at your feet? The neighbor was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it's unfortunate that Sirius threatened him, but he should hardly be held accountable for what he might have said at the time. Was there any physical evidence linking the man to the murder?"

He glances between the members of the council. "Was there any further investigation done into the crime itself? I doubt it. Finding a smoking gun at the scene is not the same as proving it is the gun that shot a man, however. It was simply convenient to tie Sirius to the murder and let the whole matter be put out of sight out of mind. And perhaps that was the intention in the first place. A fact which might have been uncovered at the time, if anyone had ever cared to look for the clues."