51. Cross-examination

“Any more questions?”

Giant of the Stars — concept by Greg

“Any more questions?”
“None, your honor, I yield the witness.”
“Understood. The time is, three thirty in the afternoon. We go until five, if overflowing, we will need you to come back tomorrow. Continuing with cross. Defense, pulpit is yours.” — judge turned to John and back to face the room as she delivered her guidance to the proceedings.

John was at the stand for three hours now. The meticulous questions from the prosecutor prolonged his testimony. He built up all the angles conceivable for the single consequence the jury can take away, ISV is accountable for what happened.

“Mr. Sotomayor. You earned a physics masters degree, summa cum laude, is it right?”
“Yes.”
“However, you didn’t finish with your original class, am I right?”
“Yes, you are, but not sure what do you…”
“Just a yes or no question, sir, thank you. You had to skip year, why was that?”
“Objection, relevance.”
“Establishing if expert is trustable, for this jury needs to know personality traits and decisions.”
“Overruled, but defense, keep it tight.”
“Yes, your honor, Mr. Sotomayor, why had to skip a year?”
“I had to attend rehab for half a year.” — John lowered his eyes for a moment before remembering, not the first time his credibility is attacked this way.
“What for?”
“Performance enhancement, I had anxiety and got hooked on stimulants to keep up with pressure at university. But I got clean and finished with…”
“Thank you, sir. During this time, you met with a certain figure, called Ben, at least lately this is his name, didn’t you?”
“Yes…” — John’s eyes widened as he recognized the strategy of this lawyer and nothing he can do now to dodge it.
“And you recruited a so called deep net expert, called Ben, to your team of investigators?”
“Yes.”
“Mr. Sotomayor, why did you had your drug dealer working on your investigations?” — deep sigh coming from the jury.
“Objection, leading, speculation, lack of foundation.”
“Sustained, strike the question from the records.” — while can not be referenced during jury debate, the impression will remain with them causing the defense lawyers to smile.
“Mr. Sotomayor, let’s move on to your arrival date at [redacted], can you tell us, what was the first thing you done?”
“Yes, I ordered the cease of all salvage operations.”
“And after?”
“I have been shuttled to the surface by the Irondome and started to search for black boxes. First order of this business is to recover those recorders to get a clear picture of what happened.”
“What was your reaction when you found a worker next to one of those recorders?”
“Well, not exactly next to it, the worker was beating the black boxes storage container with a massive hammer. First I tried communicated, then I tackled him to stop destroying evidence.”
“Is it true that later you shot one of the innocent workers who wanted to just talk with you?”
“Objection, leading, foundation.” — prosecutor’s annoyance sat on his face.”
“Overruled…”
“Subjective conclusion.”
“Okey, sustained, rephrase the question.”
“Is it true that later that day you shot a worker?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“And why?”
“Self-defense, felt my life in danger and previous attempts did not defuse the situation. The commanding officer of the Irondome verified at the time, you can read her report.”
“Do you think your girlfriend would approve this unprofessional behavior of a transportation safety agent?”
“Objection, ahm, list of reasons.”
“Sustained, strike that comment and defense, refrain from these subjective conclusions even, stretching the limits of cross.”
“Yes, understood, excuse me, your honor.” — the humble words counterweighted by his smirky smile. He can’t refute the facts, only can discredit John by getting him out of line. Almost worked as everyone passed over his snarky comment regarding the report.
“Let’s move on to your erratic behavior late in the investigation.”
“Objection, subjective.”
“Sustained.”
Mr. Sotomayor, is it right that you disappeared for days when your team were closing out the report?”
“Ahm, not sure what you mean…” — while John asked back, another defense lawyer coughed once.
“My bad, retract my question, please, your honor.” — John developed a new suspicion, are these guys work with Mr. Coldman or got threatened the same way?
“Do you have any more questions, defense?”
“Only a few more, a moment, your honor.”

The defense lawyer did his best to extend his cross up to five o’clock. At last he delved into the technicalities, trying to dance around details and forensic processes John and team used to verify the recorded data. Mostly it went nowhere, except for one question.

“Mr. Sotomayor, how do you prove the non-existence of some data? Let me rephrase, what is the difference between deleting the sensor data later, than it never recorded?”
“Hm, interesting question. There is a mountain of difference, deletion usually leaves marks anyway.”
“Except when it doesn’t, for example a forensic cleaning of a data storage. If I understand the process right, this overwrites every bit, qubit, my bad, with a new one entirely breaking connection to the first, rendering impossible to recover data.”
“Yes, you understand the process well, however…”
“Thank you, I got my answer. No more questions, your honor.”
“Prosecution, is there a chance for quick redirect? We have only 15 minutes until five, may overrun by max 10 minutes. Long week and want to let the jury rest today.”
“How much time each side left?” — lawyers and clerks paging their notes around the room.
“Sixteen hours fourteen minutes for prosecution, twenty hours forty minutes for defense.”
“Thank you, Amy. We will be quick, your honor.”
“Pulpit is yours for redirect.”
“Thank you. Mr. Sotomayor, about the forensic cleaning, what is the consequence of such and who can execute one?”
“Well, while the qubits are replaced and there is no more connection in the storage fabric between the molecules rendering restore of data impossible, it has distinct markers that someone run it. Anyone can do it if they have access to the necessary tools, it is nothing more complicated than running a command in the console.”
“Well, at least not complicated for you. And did you found any markers suggesting manipulated data?”
“No, we did not. The data recorders and the memory chip were clean too.”
“What memory chip?” — prosecutor tilted his head in honest surprise.
“Objection, foundation, exhibit not entered into evidence.” — the defendant lawyer reacted from instinct
“Sustained… wait, what exhibit are we referring to?”
“I think, there is only one memory chip in the exhibits, number P-5432.1.”
“Thank you, Amy. Prosecutor’s one based on the number.”
“Yes, it seems ours, let me search my notes please, we have almost twenty thousand of the exhibits.”
“Take your time, would you like to enter it into evidence?”
“One moment please.” — prosecutor found his page, reading the notes, establishing the memory chip as further proof for the sensors. — “Yes, however I need to set up foundation for that, we can schedule this for next week.”
“I allow it, do you need Mr. Sotomayor for this?”
“Yes, I think so.
“Then Mr. Sotomayor, thank you for today, we are about to go on recess until tomorrow, however I need to ask you to stay on Earth and rejoin us on Monday for exhibit review P-5432.1” — judge turned to the room and continued — “Thank you all, we continue with two key testimonials tomorrow and on Friday, examined by the prosecution.” — turning to the jury, she smiles — “Thank you for your continued service, I appreciate how long these days are, hope you can rest tonight well. As usual, I need to ask you to not discuss the case with anyone, not even among yourselves and do not consume any material outside of this courtroom. Thank you, have a good night!”

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