I had access to the system. Yes. Could you in the course of your duties borrow a colleague's access badge without that colleagueu's knowledge? Patricia Reeves was on her feet. Objection calls for speculation and assumes the facts not in evidence.
I'll rephrase. Emily said, "As security supervisor, did you have a master override that allowed you to access badge controlled areas without using your own registered credentials?" A pause. Yes, Cho said. The jury was very still.
So, you could enter any badge controlled area in the Meridian facility, including the restricted server room, without your access being recorded in the standard badge log? Technically, yes. The override is for emergency use, but it functions. You've used it. For facility checks, yes.
On the night of March 14th, Emily said, between the hours of 11:30 p.m. And 12:10 a.m., did you use your override access to enter the restricted server room at Meridian Technologies? The courtroom held its breath. Cho looked at his attorney in the gallery. Reeves gave a small, almost imperceptible nod. I invoked my fifth amendment right not to answer that question, Cho said.
The jury watched him say it. That was the point. Emily didn't push it. She moved immediately cleanly to the next question because a good lawyer knows that a fifth amendment invocation in front of a jury is not a moment to dwell on. It is a moment to let exist and then move past so the jury can carry it with them while you build the next layer.
Mr. Choahim, she said, picking up the chain of custody report. I'm showing you what has been marked as defense exhibit 14. This is the original chain of custody report for the fingerprint evidence collected from the server room. She placed it on the stand. Your signature appears on this document as the officer who transported evidence item for the fingerprint card from restricted archive B from the collection site to the processing lab.
Do you see that Bunnham Cho looked at the document? Yes. The report indicates this transport took approximately 40 minutes and was conducted in an unsealed evidence container. Is that accurate? A silence.
Mr. Cho. I invoke my fifth amendment right. Cho said. Emily nodded as though she had expected that because she had. During that 40minut transport, did you stop anywhere other than proceeding directly from the collection site to the processing lab?
Fifth Amendment. Did you handle the fingerprint card with your bare hands at any point during transport? Fifth Amendment. Were you instructed by anyone to transport the fingerprint card in an unsealed container? Chose jaw tightened.
A muscle moved along his jawline. Fifth Amendment, he said. Emily let that one breathe a little longer than the others. She turned to the jury for just a fraction of a second. Not long enough to be theatrical.
Just long enough to make eye contact with two jurors in the front row who were leaning forward in their seats. Then she turned back. Mr. Cho, are you personally acquainted with Ryan Mitchell outside of your professional relationship at Meridian Technologies? This was the question, not the one about the server room, not the one about the fingerprint card. This one.
Because the fifth amendment protects a witness from incriminating themselves about crimes, it does not technically protect a witness from answering questions about personal relationships. Cho would have to answer or invoke and either answer created a problem for him. If he answered yes, he contradicted Ryan Mitchell's testimony. If he invoked the fifth on a question about a personal friendship, the jury would understand exactly what that meant. Cho looked at his lawyer.
Reeves was very still. Cho looked back at Emily. "Yes," he said quietly. "I know Ryan Mitchell personally." The murmuring in the gallery was immediate and low, and Judge Watkins let it run for exactly 3 seconds before calling for order.
Emily didn't smile. She didn't react. She made a small note on her legal pad. "How long have you known him?" She asked.
"Several years. Were you aware of the criminal investigation into data theft at Meridian Technologies before you were formally interviewed as part of that investigation?" Another pause. I invoke my fifth amendment right. Cho said.
Did Ryan Mitchell contact you after you received a witness subpoena from this defense team? Fifth amendment. Did Ryan Mitchell contact you in the 30 seconds after you received that subpoena and before you called anyone on your phone? The specificity of it landed in the room like a dropped weight. Cho stared at her.
His composure, the careful stillness he had maintained since taking the stand developed a hairline fracture that Marcus could see from 30 feet away. Something moved across his face that was not quite fear and not quite anger, but was the particular emotion of a man realizing that the person across from him knows more than he thought she did. How did you cho started? He stopped himself. Fifth Amendment, he said, but the damage was done because he had started to ask a question and jury's notice when a witness forgets for one unguarded second to be careful.
Emily said no further questions. The crossexamination by Reigns was brief and visibly uncomfortable. He established that chose invocations were a legal right, not an admission of guilt, standard language, necessary cleanup. The jury had heard it before and would hear it again in the judge's instructions, but Marcus watched their faces while Reoke, and he could see the arithmetic happening. A security supervisor with override access who invoked the fifth 12 times.
A server room door that opened 11 times when only one badge scan was recorded. A fingerprint card transported unsealed for 40 minutes by a man with a personal relationship to the primary suspect in a different direction. A 220 lb weight reading in a room containing a man who weighed 47 lb less. A social media connection buried 4 years deep. None of it was a confession.