Benjamin Greenwald

Benjamin Daniel Greenwald was born in 2348 in New York City on Earth. He completed his pre-law and law degrees at City University of New York.

As a young attorney, Greenwald served as public defender in New York City, working out of a briefcase given to him by his grandmother, a veteran attorney herself. When the Federation went to war against the alliance of the Dominion, Breen Confederacy and Cardassian Union in 2373, he signed up for officer candidacy school with the intent to train as a starship conn officer. Though he enjoyed practicing law, he has a thirst for adventure. In his first week, however, during an exercise on the agile Starfleet Academy training craft, he blacked out. It was later revealed that he had an undiagnosed inner ear condition that was not yet treatable. The condition washed him out of conn officer training, but Starfleet offered him another option – stay in training and go to work as a staff attorney for the JAG Corps. He accepted that offer, and upon completion of training, he was commissioned as lieutenant (junior grade), and assigned to an old (some would say ancient) K-Type space station as the lone defense attorney on a shoestring staff.

Greenwald’s Starfleet career was much the same as his practice as a civilian. He just moved around more, first at K-13, then Starbase 11, then to the Bajor Sector and Starbase 375, and several other assignments. During one such assignment, he befriended a Vulcan named Talik, an investigator for Federation Security. Talik was formerly a Starfleet security officer, having served as chief of security on the U.S.S. Lexington/NCC-1709 and later as a member of the Starfleet security detail assigned to protect Federation President Hiram Roth. Following his stint on The Detail, as security personnel called the presidential protection assignment, Talik resigned his commission and began a career as a marshal in Federation Security. It was in that capacity that he met Greenwald. Naturally, Talik ended up investigating Starfleet personnel who Greenwald was defending, but sometimes they found themselves on the same side, and Greenwald developed a respect for Talik’s investigative prowess, and the two became friends. Greenwald even introduced Talik to the woman who would eventually become Talik’s wife.

That marriage was more successful than any of Greenwald’s. Three times had not adequately prepared him for matrimony, though two out of three of his ex-wives maintained cordial relationships with him. The nature of the work — traveling, long days, grueling cases — took its toll on those relationships, and after his third marriage ended in acrimony, Greenwald decided he’d gone through his last divorce.

Greenwald, now a full commander, developed a reputation for taking unusual, complicated or controversial cases his counterparts would not, and he enjoyed a healthy win percentage, including on appeal. He gained celebrity status in 2399 when he successfully defended Commander Geraldine Moore and Dr. Uri Tykan against a charge of conspiracy to mutiny. Moore was first officer and Tykan was chief medical officer of the Nova-class starship U.S.S. Schirra, a small survey vessel. The two had observed their commanding officer, Captain Dale Redfern, exhibiting erratic emotional behavior pointing toward mental illness, specifically paranoia. The captain’s behavior reached a flashpoint as he issued a series of potentially fatal orders as the ship traversed a treacherous course through an ion storm. Commander Moore countermanded Redfern’s orders, which sent the captain into a rage. Seeing no choice, Moore and Dr. Tykan relieved Redfern, against the captain’s vehement protest. He ordered security to confine Redfern to his quarters, and proceeded to guide the ship through the dangerous storm.

Upon the Schirra‘s arrival at Starbase 212, Redfern filed the charge of conspiracy to mutiny. Greenwald was assigned the case. The defense’s arguments were hindered by the fact that, although his proficiency and conduct scores were average, Redfern’s service record showed no prior infractions against Starfleet regulations that suggested he would put his crew or ship in harm’s way. He had no previous diagnosis of mental illness, and no witnesses could produce credible evidence of what could have brought on the captain’s alleged erratic behavior.

Greenwald, however, discovered an anecdote from Redfern’s early service that he used to get Redfern to crack on the witness stand under Greenwald’s examination — an obsession-laden investigation Redfern had conducted, while a lieutenant (junior grade) aboard the U.S.S. Kildare into a missing crate of stembolts. With the court members having witnessed Redfern’s breakdown, they dismissed the charge of conspiracy to mutiny.

The case garnered Greenwald unwanted publicity. It had rocked him to the core to subject Redfern to that humiliation, but the more he learned about the captain and his actions, the more convinced he was that Commander Moore and Dr. Tykan had acted correctly.

The publicity was not, however, what Starfleet needed, not with the fires still burning on the Martian soil and refugee Romulans scattered across the former Star Empire. The fleet could not punish Greenwald, though, for doing his job, but his penchant for taking cases could be curtailed. The admiralty did what it often did with officers it deemed as troublesome – they promoted him. Greenwald would be transferred to Fourth Fleet Headquarters, Starbase Bravo, to be chief public defender in the JAG Corps’ public defender office.