 What does the outcome of Zeckler's trial suggest about the modern legal system?
Interplanetary ruling. "You've committed the most heinous crime these creatures can imagine, and they're going to get you for it if it's the last thing they do. The first men in were the richest out, and through some curious quirk of the Terrestrial mind, they knew they could count on Terran protection, however crooked and underhand their methods. But occasionally a situation arose where the civilization and social practices of the alien victims made it unwise to tamper with them. You'd have found out that they're marsupials, and that two out of five of them get thrown out of their mother's pouch before they're old enough to survive. You'd have realized that they have to start fighting for individual rights almost as soon as they're born.
 The better lawyer a defendant has, the more likely they are to clear their names.
 The legal system is set up to benefit those with more power and wealth.  For a defendant in the legal system, there is no desirable outcome.  The better lawyer a defendant has, the more likely they are to clear their names.  Sometimes it is more optimal to lie and make a guilty plea, than to tell the truth and be found guilty.