Chapter 260: Chapter 260: The Clash of Words
The lead defense attorney wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, his confident smirk replaced by a tense, calculating scowl. He looked at Arthur Sinclair, who gave him a sharp, nearly imperceptible nod, signaling him to use any card left in his hand.
"Your Honors!" said the defense attorney, stepping forward and raising his voice to cut through the heavy atmosphere. "In light of this sudden digital evidence presented by the prosecution, the defense is blindsided. We have not had the opportunity to verify the cryptographic integrity of these local server logs. Furthermore, my client, Miss Sinclair, is still undergoing psychological evaluations due to the severe trauma of the accident. Therefore, under Article 12 of the Judicial Code, we request a sixty-day continuance to review these materials and prepare an adequate response."
"Sixty days?" said Elizabeth Collins, a cold, mocking laugh escaping her lips as she spun around to face the bench. "Your Honors, this is a textbook delay tactic. The defense has had weeks to prepare. They didn’t want a continuance when they thought they had erased every scrap of public footage. Now that their corporate corruption has been exposed, they want to buy time to intimidate the building owners who provided these secure backups!"
"That is an outrageous slander!" shouted the defense attorney, his face turning red as he slammed his fist onto his table. "We are simply invoking our constitutional right to due process! The prosecution is trying to railroad a traumatized young woman based on unverified, third-party files!"
"A traumatized woman who intentionally used a two-ton vehicle as a weapon!" shot back Elizabeth, her voice ringing out like a crystal bell. "The evidence is hard-coded, timestamped across two independent servers. There is nothing to verify except the depth of your client’s guilt. To grant a continuance now would be a direct insult to the integrity of this tribunal!"
"Order!" shouted the lead judge, slamming his gavel down three times in rapid succession. Bang! Bang! Bang! "Counselors, maintain your decorum!"
"The prosecution is overstepping!" yelled a second defense lawyer, standing up to join the fray. "They are demanding immediate judgment without allowing us to cross-examine the technical engineers who pulled those drive logs!"
"You had the engineers’ names on the docket for two weeks, counselor!" replied Elizabeth, turning on him with a fierce, academic glare. "You chose to ignore them because you assumed your pockets were deep enough to buy the silence of the entire block! Your Honors, I move to deny the request for a continuance and demand we proceed directly to the cross-examination of the victim, Mr. Alexander!"
"This is a circus!" shouted Arthur Sinclair from the gallery, unable to restrain himself any longer as he stood up, his deep voice booming through the room. "I will not sit here and watch my daughter be lynched by an opportunistic—"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Silence in the gallery!" roared the lead judge, pointing the gavel directly at Arthur with a severe, threatening expression. "One more outburst from you, Mr. Sinclair, and I will have the bailiffs drag you out of this courtroom and charge you with contempt! Sit down!"
Arthur’s jaw tightened into a rigid line, his chest heaving with rage as he slowly sank back into his seat, his eyes boring holes into the back of Elizabeth’s head.
The lead judge took a deep breath, looking down at the notes on his desk before conferring in a low whisper with the two judges flanking him.
The three judges leaned inward, their heads huddled together as they whispered in low, tense tones, casting sharp glances between the digital evidence screen and the defense table. After a long moment of deliberation, the lead judge pulled back, turning her head toward the gallery to lock her eyes directly onto Arthur Sinclair with a terrifying intensity.
"Mr. Sinclair," said the female judge, her voice dropping into a low, freezing tone that vibrated through the silent room. "This is not a corporate boardroom where you can dictate terms with your bank account, and it is certainly not a private club for your family’s amusement. Your blatant disrespect for this tribunal is bordering on criminal behavior. I suggest you remember exactly where you are standing before I decide to make an example out of you."
Arthur’s face flushed a deep, angry crimson, but he kept his mouth shut, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the edge of the wooden bench.
"Your Honor, please," said the lead defense attorney, stepping quickly in front of his client to manage the catastrophic damage. "The defense deeply apologizes for the emotional outburst. Mr. Sinclair is merely acting out of extreme distress as a father who almost lost his only daughter to a fiery explosion. We mean no disrespect to this honorable court."
"Then control your client, counselor," snapped the judge, hitting the gavel once more with a sharp thud.
"Regardless of emotional distress," said Elizabeth, stepping forward and refusing to let up on the pressure, "the facts remain unchanged. The defense has used every underhanded trick in the book to delay these proceedings. A sixty-day extension is nothing more than a desperate attempt to manipulate the narrative outside this room."
"We are willing to compromise, Your Honors!" yelled the defense attorney, sweating as he glanced back at Arthur’s furious expression. "We don’t need sixty days. Give us a week. Just seven days to have our independent tech experts look at the server logs. Surely the prosecution isn’t so afraid of a standard verification process that they can’t wait a week?"
"Seven days is seven days too many for a victim who is currently living under the shadow of corporate intimidation," countered Elizabeth, her voice sharp and uncompromising. "Every hour we delay is an hour the Sinclair estate can use to pressure our witnesses or hide secondary assets. We demand to proceed immediately."
"Enough," said the lead judge, raising her hand to cut off both lawyers as she exchanged a final, tense look with the other two magistrates.
She turned her gaze back down to the courtroom, her expression stern and unyielding.
"The court has considered the arguments from both sides," said the judge. "While we recognize the prosecution’s concerns regarding potential tampering, the introduction of new, unverified digital server logs does entitle the defense to a window of verification. However, a sixty-day delay—or even a week—is out of the question."
She leaned forward, pointing her pen directly at the defense table.
"This tribunal will grant a continuance of exactly three days," announced the judge, her voice final. "We will reconvene this Friday morning at nine o’clock sharp. If the defense cannot find any cryptographic anomalies in those files by then, we will move directly to a final verdict without any further arguments. This court is adjourned."
Bang!
The sharp strike of the gavel echoed through the room. Stella Sinclair let out a heavy, trembling breath, slumping back into her chair in relief, while Elizabeth Collins slowly closed her leather portfolio with a soft, dissatisfied click, her jaw tight as she glanced sideways at Alexander.
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