Chapter 13 - The Trial of the Decade
Six months later.
The trial of *United States v. Sterling and Vance* had become the most watched federal trial in Colorado history.
Julian Sterling had taken a plea deal three months in, agreeing to testify against his own father in exchange for a reduced sentence of seven years in a federal penitentiary.
Richard Sterling fought the charges to the bitter end, spending tens of millions of dollars on elite defense firms, but the forensic evidence provided by ARIA’s sensors was impossible to dismantle. Every time the defense tried to claim an electronic anomaly, Dr. Thorne’s legal team presented timestamped, multi-spectral LiDAR data that obliterated their arguments.
On a cold Tuesday morning in November, the jury returned a guilty verdict on thirty-eight federal counts against Richard Sterling.
He was sentenced to twenty-four years without the possibility of parole.
Then came Ryan’s sentencing.
Because Ryan had no prior criminal record, and because his defense team successfully demonstrated that he had been coerced by Dad’s crushing gambling debts, the federal judge showed him a measure of leniency.
He was sentenced to three years at the Federal Correctional Institution in Englewood, Colorado, followed by four years of supervised probation and five hundred hours of mandatory community service.
His athletic career was permanently over. His hockey scholarship had been rescinded the day after the indictment. His reputation was shattered.
Dad received eight years for money laundering and federal wire fraud.
The day Ryan was formally transferred to Englewood to begin his sentence, his attorney contacted me.
Ryan had requested a family visitation.
He had requested to see me.
Maya offered to drive me down to Englewood in the Thorne Industries company SUV.
“You don't have to do this, Emily,” Maya said as we sat in the prison parking lot, watching the razor-wire fences glinting under the gray autumn sky. “You owe that boy absolutely nothing.”
May you like
“I know,” I said, looking at my reflection in the side mirror. “I’m not doing this for him, Maya. I’m doing it for me.”
***
