Essay Sample on Indictment: Murder of Gaius Julius Caesar

I, J. S. the head prosecutor for the highest courts in the glorious Roman Republic, have been given the burden of charging the killer Gaius Julius Caesar with murder and treason against the Roman Republic. On this date, September 24, 2021, I have discovered the evidence to prove that Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus and their five other followers shall be charged with murder in the first degree and treason. Brutus and Cassius hated Julius Caesar and had every reason to kill the upcoming dictator, and deserves the charge of first degree murder, with malice aforethought. With the charge of first degree murder, goes the charge of treason against the Roman Republic. With an overwhelming amount of evidence and a sorrowful heart, I charge the conspirators in the Roman Senate with murder in the first degree, with malice aforethought, and treason against magnificent Roman Republic due to the hatred shown from Cassius and his followers against Julius Caesar. 

The first piece of evidence I would like to bring before the grand jury is the newspaper article seen in Exhibit A. When Cassius mentions, “‘This is an obvious case of bribery. He wants their support so he paid them off’”(Exhibit A) he truly shows signs that he dislikes Caesar. You do not bring up argumentative matters in a newspaper and have a public opinion against your superior unless you do not agree with their actions. This public stance against Caesar by Cassius is a true sign of s group of conspirators that do not agree with Caesar’s actions or views on the Roman Republic and her interest. With Cassius coming out so openly and stating that he believes that Caesar is bribing the Romans, it can be immediately inferred that Cassius is one of the conspirators' leaders and is willing to speak out against the dictator Julius Caesar. 

My second piece of evidence comes from the autopsy report in Exhibit D, where the wounds are said to be consistent with those of a homicide. When the autopsy report states that there were “many attackers” and that the attackers were “inexperienced” (Exhibit D). Julius Caesar’s cold body was found lifeless on the Senate floor. The only inexperienced attackers around would have been within the Senate. With some of the senators publicly having a different view of Caesar’s actions, this makes the Senate people of interest. With the group of inexperienced attackers, and knowing that some Senators, Like Cassius, was against Caesar’s views, this makes Cassius and his followers prime suspects in the murder of Julius Caesar. 

My third, and final piece of evidence is pulled from Exhibit D. In this except, it says that, “graffiti demanded that Brutus follow his ancestors and kill Caesar” to “save the republic” (Exhibit D). Brutus’ ancestors had killed a Roman king 600 years before, and the people against Caesar demanded that Caesar die too. With Brutus having this history, and Brutus being close to Caesar in the Senate, it would have been easy for Brutus to get close enough to kill Caesar.  With the public opinion on his side, Brutus would have killed Caesar to save the Roman Republic from collapsing into an empire. Brutus had every reason to kill Caesar, and he did kill him on the 15th of March in 44AD. 

To summarize, the conspirators alongside Cassius and Brutus that helped kill Julius Caesar are guilty of treason against the grand Roman Republic and the murder of Gaius Julius Caesar. The evidence shows that Cassius had every intention to silence Caesar and came out publicly against Caesar’s actions and condemned them. Brutus was a close friend of Caesar’s and would have been able to have gotten close enough to kill him. It would have been in Cassius and Brutus best interest to kill Caesar because they could have been about to save the Roman Republic from collapsing into the Roman Empire. Cassius, Brutus, and the other conspirators tried to save the republic, but have committed murder in the first degree and treason in the murder of Gaius Julius Caesar.