Supervisory review. Did you change it? I suggested clarifications. What kind language formatting completeness? Did you suggest replacing questioned the basis for detention with obstructed lawful security instructions?
I don't recall the exact wording. Did you suggest changing declined consent to search to refused lawful direction? I would need to see the document. Maya placed the comparison in front of him. Keane read it.
I may have discussed making the language more precise. More precise? For what purpose? To reflect Sergeant Mercer's account. Maya moved to the next subject.
You issued the courthouse advisory the night before the delivery. Yes. What was the source of the information? Confidential security information. Was it from law enforcement?
No. Courthouse security? No. A judge? No.
The clerk's office? No. Keane's posture remained composed. Maya looked directly at him. Was the source connected to Apex Meridian's legal team?
Voss stood immediately. Objection. Privilege. Maya did not turn toward him. I'm asking who provided information to a public official that became the basis for a police operation.
Judge Price considered it. Overruled as to identity of the source category. The witness may answer. Keane hesitated. Yes.
The courtroom became noticeably quieter. Maya continued. Through whom? A private investigator retained by whom? Outside council associated with Apex Meridian.
Voss rose again. Judge Price looked at him. Sit down. on Mr. Voss. The witness has answered.
Maya moved to the document she had been waiting to use. Deputy chief, did the original communication say three lawyers were committing a crime? No. Did it report a weapon? No.
Contraband? No. A threat to courthouse safety? No. What did it say?
That physical material connected to the Bennett matter might be transferred directly to council. Maya nodded. And after receiving that information, you created a police advisory. Yes, an advisory telling officers to prevent the material from entering the courthouse to investigate the transfer and secure material if necessary. Maya handed the clerk another exhibit.
This communication was recovered from server archive metadata. Do you recognize the routing information? Keane looked at it. Yes. The email from the private investigator stated that physical material connected to Bennett might be transferred directly to council and that if it reached courthouse custody, privilege and admissibility issues would become significantly more difficult.
Maya let Judge Price read it before continuing. Then she displayed Keane's internal message sent afterward. Intercept before entry. Document resistance. Maya looked at him.
What did you mean by document resistance? Any refusal to comply with lawful instructions. Did you expect resistance? I expected questions. Those are not the same thing.
They can interfere with an officer's work. Maya waited a moment. Did you tell Sergeant Mercer that questioning his authority could support obstruction? No. Did you tell him to create an obstruction charge?
No. Did you tell him to stop the case from reaching the courtroom? I told him to prevent potentially unauthorized material from entering secure court areas. Maya nodded once. So before Maya Williams received the case, you knew who would receive it, what it looked like, what litigation it concerned and that someone connected to Apex Meridian wanted it stopped.
Keane's expression tightened. I knew there was a security concern. Maya looked toward Judge Price. No, Deputy Chief. You knew there was a litigation concern.
The question is when it became a police one. Voss stood. Objection sustained. Price said, "Councel save argument for closing. " Maya closed her folder. She had what she needed.
By that point, the court had established that the camera had been manually stopped. Mercer's report had changed after supervisory review, and the original warning had come from people working for the very party seeking to remove Maya's firm from the case. The remaining question was no longer whether the incident had been unusual. It was whether the sealed case itself would prove why so many people had worked to keep it from reaching the judge. Simon Vale entered the courtroom after Keane stepped down.
He looked uncomfortable under the attention, but answered Maya's questions without hesitation. You delivered the charcoal case to me outside the courthouse? Yes. Who hired you? A private booking service.
Did they tell you what was inside? No. Did they tell you police would be waiting? No. Did they tell you the delivery would create a security incident?
No. Maya showed him a photograph taken from the courthouse camera. Is that you? Yes. And where did you receive the case?
Parking garage on Jefferson Street. From whom? a woman I didn't know. Did she identify herself? No. Did she tell you to open the case?
No. She specifically told me not to. What were your instructions? Deliver it directly to Maya Williams. No substitutes.
No opening it. No questions about the contents. Maya nodded toward the evidence table. Is that the same case? Simon looked at it.
Yes. No further questions. Voss questioned Simon briefly, but established nothing beyond what the court already knew. Simon was a paid courier who had followed unusual instructions. He could not identify the source by name.