He had come back from lunch with the recovered confidence of someone who had regrouped over a sandwich and a phone call and reminded himself of all the reasons he was going to win this case. He had walked to the bench with his jacket buttoned and his expression calibrated and his tie perfectly straight. He walked away from the bench with his hand touching his tie and not letting go. Judge Whitmore addressed the courtroom. This court has been presented with an emergency motion by the defense to admit additional documentary evidence that was received by defense council within the last hour.
Given the nature of the evidence and its direct bearing on the integrity of the existing court record, I am granting the motion. The defense will have the opportunity to present this evidence to the jury during the afternoon session. Mr. Ree, your objection is noted. Your honor, Ree said, the prosecution has had no opportunity to Mr. Ree. The judge said, "Your objection is noted."
Ree sat down. Dennis Marsh standing at his table allowed himself exactly one second of something that might have been satisfaction. Then he opened his files and got back to work. Behind Victoria, Marcus leaned forward very slightly. "What just happened?"
he said, his voice barely above a murmur. "Evidence came in," Victoria said. "The real kind." She heard him exhale. The afternoon session moved fast.
Dennis called Gerald Stein to testify by video conference. Stein was in his office at St. Augustine, composed and methodical, and he walked the jury through the server logs with the particular clarity of someone who understands that the most important thing he can do is make a technical subject legible to 12 people who did not come to court expecting to learn about hospital database systems. I explained what a document hash was. He explained why a changed hash meant a changed document. He explained the timeline of the two access events.
He identified Dr. Raymond chose login credentials as the ones associated with both events. He did not editorialize. He did not speculate. He simply described what the record showed. It was devastating precisely because it was so calm.
Carl Ree cross-examined Stein for 20 minutes. He raised the possibility of system errors. He questioned the chain of custody of the server logs themselves. He implied that Stein might have a personal motivation. He was thorough and professional and he did everything a good lawyer does when the evidence is against him.
None of it touched Stein's testimony because Stein wasn't telling a story. He was reading a record and the record said what it said regardless of how many ways you framed the question. When Stein's testimony ended, Dennis stood and said, "Your honor, the defense would like to call Dr. Raymond Cho." The room shifted. Ree was on his feet.
Your honor, Dr. Ch has not been listed as a witness by either party. He has now, Dennis said. We're calling him as a hostile witness under rule 611. His presence is material to the integrity of the evidentiary record. Whitmore looked at Ree, then at Dennis, then at the door.
Baleiff, he said, is Dr. Cho present in the building. Curtis checked his phone, looked up. He was served with a subpoena at 11:58 this morning, your honor. He's in the building. The room absorbed this information.
Victoria looked at the door. She thought about timing about the call from Stein about the 40 minutes between when she answered that call and when the session resumed about Dennis filing the emergency motion and serving the subpoena in the space of a lunch hour. She thought about what it meant to move quickly when the situation required it. The doors at the back of the courtroom opened. Raymond Cho was 51 years old with the bearing of someone who has spent two decades being the most credentialed person in most rooms he entered.
He wore a white dress shirt under a dark jacket. His face was arranged in an expression of calm that had clearly required effort to assemble and was holding together by Will alone. He walked to the witness stand. He was sworn in. Dennis Marsh looked at him for a moment before speaking just long enough for the silence to mean something.
Then, Dr. Cho, are you familiar with Derek Pullman? We're acquainted, Cho said, through the hospital's community advisory board. Would you describe your relationship as a professional one? Yes, a personal one. We're acquainted.
DHO on the evening of Dennis checked his notes and named a specific date. Did you access the emergency medical records of Derek Pullman through the St. Augustine Hospital database? A pause. I may have I review a number of records in the course of a Dr. Cho. The server logs from St. Augustine's records management system.
Show your login credentials accessing Derek Pullman's emergency documentation on that date. Not a general review. A specific file opened for 37 minutes. Did you access those records? Cho looked at Ree.
Ree did not look back. I believe I may have reviewed them briefly. Cho said. 37 minutes is not brief. Dennis said, "Why did you access Derek Pullman's emergency records?
He was not your patient. His treatment was handled by the emergency department, which is outside your specialty." What clinical reason did you have to review his file? I was Cho stopped, started again. I was asked to consult.
By whom? A longer pause. By Mr. Pullman, Cho said. The courtroom went very still. Derek Pullman asked you to review his own emergency medical records, Dennis said.
He asked me to look at them. Yes. In your capacity as a physician? Yes. And during your review, did you make any changes to the documentation in that file?
Cho's face changed. The assembled calm developed a crack small but visible to anyone watching closely. His eyes moved to the jury, then back to Dennis. I may have there may have been some clarification of termination of terminology. Dr. Chob, Dennis said, and his voice was quieter now, which made it more alarming, not less.
The document hash recorded by the system before your access and the document hash recorded after your access do not match. That means the file content changed during your session. I'm asking you directly, did you alter the medical documentation of Derek Pullman's injuries? Cho said nothing. The silence lasted 4 seconds.