"Objection. Argumentative."
"Sustained. Move on, Counselor, or sit down," Vance barked, glaring at the public defender.
In the back row, the man in the gray coat clicked his pen. He wrote down the exact time Judge Vance shut down the defense. He wrote down the exact legal statute Vance was violating.
The tension in the room was suffocating. Marcus was called to the stand. His voice shook as he swore on the Bible.
"I was at the university library," Marcus pleaded, his hands gripping the wooden rail of the witness stand. "I was studying for my midterms. I left at 9:20 PM. I didn't rob anyone. I swear to God, I was just walking home."
Judge Vance let out a loud, theatrical sigh, rubbing his temples as if Marcus was wasting his precious time. "Mr. Sterling, are you asking this court to believe that you just magically happened to be three blocks from a robbery, wearing the exact same clothes as the suspect, by sheer coincidence?"
"It's the truth, Your Honor," Marcus whispered, his voice cracking.
"We'll see about that," Vance chuckled darkly.
Miller scrambled to introduce the defense's only real evidence. "Your Honor, we have the electronic card-swipe logs from the Penn State Library. They show Marcus Sterling scanning out of the building at 9:22 PM. The robbery happened at 9:30 PM, over a mile away. It is physically impossible for him to have made it there on foot."
Judge Vance barely glanced at the paper. "Card swipes can be faked. College kids lend their IDs to friends all the time. The court finds this evidence circumstantial and insufficient."
Miller’s jaw dropped. The jury looked confused, but Vance's absolute authority silenced any doubt in the room. The system wasn't broken. It was functioning exactly as it was designed to.
In the back of the room, the man in the trench coat pulled out his cell phone. He opened a secure messaging app and typed a single sentence: Have the team on standby. Phase two.
The courtroom doors suddenly swung open, hitting the walls with a loud thud.