The criminal case still lay ahead.
The criminal trial began eleven months after Simone first put the key into Hawthorne House's front door.
By then, the public had lived through other scandals, storms, elections, and arguments. Online attention had moved elsewhere. The witnesses still carried the date in their calendars.
Simone entered the courthouse with Maren, who was handling her civil case and attending as her counsel. Lydia Shaw led the criminal prosecution. The two roles remained separate, even when their files contained copies of the same photographs.
Mercer sat at the defense table beside attorney Warren Pike.
He had lost weight. His hair was shorter. When Simone entered, he looked up and then returned to a yellow legal pad.
Jury selection took three days.
The judge, Miriam Walsh, reminded prospective jurors that neither a police career nor a government title determined whether a witness was truthful. They would hear evidence about specific conduct and apply the law she instructed them to use.
Lydia's opening was brief.
She described a call that justified asking questions and an officer who continued holding someone after the answers had been independently confirmed. She told the jury that the state would not ask them to infer every disputed fact from emotion. They would hear the calls and watch the recordings.
Pike emphasized uncertainty, responsibility, and the difficulty of making decisions in the field.
His strongest argument concerned the beginning of the encounter.
Lydia's strongest evidence concerned everything that happened after it.
Miles testified first about what he had personally observed. He explained where he stood, when he began recording, and how he preserved the original file.
Pike asked whether he had disliked Mercer before that afternoon.
“I had concerns about an earlier encounter,” Miles answered.
“So you were looking for misconduct.”
“I looked out because I heard shouting.”
“You were ready with a camera.”
“My phone was in my pocket.”
Pike approached the screen displaying the paused video.
“Your recording doesn't show the chief arriving, does it?”
“No.”
“It doesn't show everything that happened before you began.”
“No.”
Lydia asked one question when her turn came again.
“Does it show Director Hayes offering information the chief could verify?”
“Yes.”
The video played.
In the courtroom, the ordinary sounds from Briar Lane seemed louder than they had online. Birds. A passing van. The scrape of Simone's folder against the stone. Her voice stating where the credential case could be found.
No dramatic music accompanied it. No captions told the jury what to think.
The recording continued through the chief's refusal.
Mara Ellis testified about the dispatch system and how she authenticated the state request. She explained the distinction between a caller claiming authority and a request received through an established coordination channel.
Pike asked whether communication systems could ever be misused.
“Yes,” she said.
“So authentication is not infallible.”
“No system is infallible.”
He nodded as if he had established something essential.
Lydia returned to the microphone.
“Did Chief Mercer ask you to conduct any additional check?”
“No.”
“Did he identify any specific problem with the authentication?”
“No.”
“What did he instruct you to do?”
“Tell them he would respond after booking.”
Ada Monroe explained the digital records without turning the testimony into a technical performance. She showed how the report's wording changed and which changes occurred after verification reached headquarters.
Pike suggested the revisions reflected an officer improving the precision of his account.
Ada said she could establish what changed and when. Whether the changes were truthful was for the other evidence to address.
The judge thanked her for staying within the scope of her expertise.
During a recess, Judge Walsh reminded the attorneys that the trial would not become a referendum on every public argument about policing. Previous incidents could be considered only within the limits she had ruled appropriate. Several witnesses waited outside without knowing whether they would be called. Their patience was another part of the process that television coverage rarely showed.
By the end of the fourth trial day, the jury had heard many versions of the word uncertainty.
They had also heard the chief's voice telling dispatch to wait.
As court adjourned, Simone noticed Calvin Porter sitting in the back row. He had taken unpaid time away from his business to attend.
Outside, he asked whether watching the video again had been difficult.
“Yes,” she said.
He nodded.
Neither tried to turn the answer into something inspiring.
Simone took the oath on a Tuesday morning.