Guilty: Meursault's Trial

Meursault is guilty: that much is obvious. It's not as though he's denying it. But his trial isn't about whether or not he pulled the trigger, or if he had good reason to. It's about whether he loved his mother, and the prosecutor even admits it himself-- Meursault is accused of "burying his mother with crime in his heart." Whether Meursault loved his mother is a weird question with a sort of ambiguous answer (no, he didn't cry at her funeral, or have any idea what her age was, and yes he did hook up with Marie right afterwards, but he's not necessarily emotionless. Or entirely emotionless, anyway.) But, while the prosecutor could probably have gotten a guilty verdict on the facts alone, what with the shooting the man five times in what could barely be called self-defense, he chooses to go with "he didn't love his mother." I get the idea of character witnesses, but it does seem a little bit much.

Also, I get why Meursault almost ignoring the fact of his mother's death is considered bad, but I actually don't see it so terribly. What harm does seeing a comedy, or sleeping with Marie, or not crying at a funeral do? It's not like acting properly sad is going to bring his mother back from the dead.