Yakone's trial

"water"

- The overwhelming amount of testimony and evidence has convinced this council that Yakone is one of these unique benders and he exploited his ability to commit these heinous crimes. We find Yakone guilty of all charges and sentence him to life in prison.

The trial of Yakone was the preceedings in which the bloodbending criminal, Yakone, was sentenced to jail. However, the criminal attempted escape, only to be defeated by Avatar Aang, who removed his bending.

History
In 128 ASC, the Republic City underground leader Yakone was tried for his criminal acts upon the city and its citizens. He had apparently been accused on multiple accounts, but was cleared each time. Avatar Aang and Chief Toph Beifong had been trying to convict Yakone for years, but due to the apparent impossibility of his crime - bloodbending without the presence of a full moon - they were unsuccessful. Five years before the birth of his son Tarrlok, Yakone was tried once more, this time with dozens of witnesses. The testimony showed that there was enough evidence from apparent victims to lock Yakone away, but the jurors were unsure due to the fact that all of Yakone's crimes were on dates in which there was no full moon.

The verdict was finally delivered by Councilman Sokka, who was the chairman and the Southern Water Tribe representative during that time, stating that he believed it was possible to bloodbend without the presence of a full moon, using his own life experiences (such as Toph inventing metalbending, and the rare abilities of Combustion Man) as justification. Yakone was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes. Before he could be detained, however, Yakone demonstrated his powerful abilities and subdued every person in the courtroom, apart from Avatar Aang. After knocking the viewers out-cold, Yakone made a narrow escape from the courtroom only to be pursued by the Avatar. After a brief chase, Aang's Avatar State was activated, enabling him to trap Yakone. The Avatar then removed Yakone's bending abilities.

Aftermath
Avatar Korra, Aang's successor, would come to envision this event whilst meditating. She would also come to face Yakone's son, Tarrlok, who also possessed bloodbending abilities.

Trivia

 * The removal of Yakone's bending was the first time energybending had occurred without pillars of light shining from the two participants' bodies, as depicted in "Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang".