CHAPTER 13 — THE JUROR LIST
The discovery forced the court to delay the trial.
Investigators examined the jury-selection system.
One court employee had accessed confidential juror pools repeatedly.
Her bank account showed a payment from a company connected to Grant Mercer.
Arthur had planned to influence the trial before he was ever charged.
The employee was arrested.
A new jury pool was selected under increased security.
The prosecution combined the assault, fraud, conspiracy, and identity-theft evidence into one overwhelming narrative.
The investigation into my father’s death would be tried separately because of its complexity.
Arthur appeared in court wearing a gray suit.
He no longer smiled at reporters.
The kitchen recording played first.
The jury watched him lift the mug.
They watched the coffee strike my face.
They watched Brooke continue eating.
Then they heard his earlier conversation about taking my money and having me committed.
A few jurors looked away.
The medical photographs followed.
I testified for nearly six hours.
Arthur’s attorney tried to portray me as controlling.
He asked whether I had ever refused Arthur money.
“Yes.”
“Frequently?”
“When the money belonged to me or my company.”
“Did that make your relationship tense?”
“My refusal did not make him assault me. His decision did.”
The courtroom became silent.
Elias testified about the forged documents.
Maria testified about the garage.
Marcus described the shell companies and the fire.
Serena appeared by secure video and explained the synthetic recordings.
Brooke testified last.
She admitted everything.
Arthur stared at her with an expression so cold that even Brooke’s attorney moved closer.
During cross-examination, Arthur’s attorney produced a surprise witness.
A former Bennett Ridge accountant named Paul Danner.
Paul claimed I had personally instructed him to hide company funds.
He testified that the Cayman trust belonged to me.
Then the defense produced emails apparently sent from my account.
The messages directed Paul to move money and blame Arthur if auditors discovered it.
The courtroom shifted.
Jurors studied me differently.
Victoria requested a recess.
Forensic analysts examined the emails.
The account was mine.
The login records came from my home internet connection.
The messages had been sent from my laptop.
“I never wrote them,” I said.
Victoria looked at the dates.
“Where were you on March fourteenth?”
I checked my calendar.
“At a conference in Boston.”
“Was your laptop with you?”
“No. Arthur said he needed it to print tax documents.”
The emails had been sent while Arthur had physical access to my computer.
But proving that required more than my word.
Then the prosecution’s digital expert found an automatic photograph stored in the laptop’s security folder.
My computer had been configured to take a webcam image after three incorrect password attempts.
The photograph showed Arthur sitting in front of the laptop.
Paul Danner stood behind him.
The defense’s surprise witness had been caught at the scene of the fabrication.
Paul’s face collapsed when the image appeared on the courtroom screen.
The judge ordered the jury removed.
Paul was taken into custody for perjury.
As deputies escorted him away, he shouted toward the prosecutor.
“You don’t understand! Arthur wasn’t running it!”
The prosecutor stepped forward.
“Then who was?”
Paul looked at the back of the courtroom.
A white-haired man rose from his seat and began walking toward the exit.
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It was the founder of Blackstone Harbor Partners.
And he had attended every day of the trial pretending to be a journalist.
