Motives and Movements (Cross-Examination)

Motives and Movements was the name of the fifth cross-examination of Turnabout of the Elements, and the second cross-examination of Ross Moebus. Moebus was instructed to testify about movements on the day of the murder, as well as any motives for murdering Alexandra Kranf. The testimony was elicited when it came out that Johnny Smiles's timeline was an hour off, so Ross had an opportunity to commit the crime.

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01. First, I, I... I want to say that I didn't even know who that woman was! 02. Y-You... You can't prove I had a reason to want to her to die because I didn't! 03. Then, my, um, movements that day. 04. From 9-12, I was with a couple other company people showing her around. 05. Then there was lunch from 12 to 1 or so. 06. The, um, EMP thing happened after that, but I think we've already talked about that. 07. That took until 2 or so, and I thought I should leave Mr. Johnson alone for a bit. 08. Around 5 or so, I crossed the bridge to go to Mr. Johnson's office. 09. He... wasn't there, and when he did show up, he was busy, so I was waiting... Trying to get it on my own in the meantime. 10. When it felt like a g-good amount of time had passed, I'd go looking for him. 11. Around, uh, I guess it was 7:30, I went outside and puzzled over things for a bit. 12. I didn't exactly search the place, but I didn't see any bodies lying about. 13. Then I left, like, um, I think we've already talked about. 14. I got some water, took a walk, and left... half an hour or so after I was done talking with Jackie, and left. 15. And that's it! I swear I'm not forgetting to mention that I killed her or anything!

Added Details on Statements 8 to 10
Ross did not escort the victim to the building where she died, but claims his fingerprints showed up on so many elevator buttons because he would periodically search all the floors to see if Mr. Johnson was busy.

Press Details
Between about 3 and 4, he was playing card games to take his mind off the test. Between 5 and 7:30, he was roaming the Brain Imaging Lab building looking for Mr. Johnson, and distracting himself with games on his tablet.

At lunch, everybody had chicken kiev with a side salad. Ms. Kranf drank water and tea.

Ross had a history of being agitated about tests he was feeling underconfident about.

Ross saw "something distracting, but not unpleasant" out of the corner of his eye, on the island, shortly before crossing the bridge, but he can't recall what. All he remembers is that the moon was able to illuminate it.

Ross expected to find Nick in his office, but he wasn't there.

Ross forgot you could go on the building's roof. Correspondingly, the elevator does not go up there.

He saw Johnson alone with Kranf that night.

Ross has access to "several places" around the Institute, due to his work there.

Moebus had no special contact with Johnson's lab before he started with the research.

According to Ross, Ms. Kranf wasn't focusing on any buildings in particular. The first part was a general tour of the place, meeting a couple executives before lunch and getting the absolute basics. The detailed stuff came after lunch. The plan was for a detailed walkaround of the highlights after lunch, and then focusing on just one building so she could focus on the particulars. She had no building in particular in mind at first.

There are fire alarms on every floor of the building.

Smiles said that Ross didn't have any kind of bag or container with him.

Ross drove to work that day and was waved through the front gates. There appeared to be no valet on-duty either.

Ross wore a sweatshirt with a pocket on it that day, as usual when he knew he would be there late.

Pay at Ross's job was "not great, but not worth the effort of searching elsewhere." He feels he could get a new one if needed, however.

Medical records show that Johnson was not a smoker, but it was ambiguous whether or not Moebus was.

Connie's Counterattack
When Connie Harper become one of Johnson's defense attorneys during this cross-examination, she began a counterattack against the prosecution. She formally accused Ross of murdering Alexandra Kranf. She theorized:

During the lunch, Ross Moebus prepared one of Ms. Kranf's drinks and drugged it using Lorazepam. He did this in order to disrupt her investigation. After lunch at around 12:00 PM, they went to the room where the EMP incident took place. After Ms. Kranf mentioned that the EMP blast damaged her tablet to the point of uselessness, Mr. Moebus asked if she had a physical back-up and Ms. Kranf confirmed. By now it was approximately 2:00 PM and Mr. Moebus crossed the bridge to the mainland to play cards, assuming his testimony about those events is truthful. Mr. Moebus then crossed the bridge back to the island at around 5:00 PM under the pretense of asking Mr. Johnson for assistance on the test. In actuality, he located and acquired the chloroform and gloves he hid on the island and then searched for Ms. Kranf, who he knew was still on the island (since she had to investigate there). Between 7:00 PM and approximately 7:30 PM, Mr. Moebus located Ms. Kranf, assaulted her, and murdered her. He then searched through her belongings and found the portable data back-up he had asked her about earlier and took it. At approximately 7:30 PM Mr. Moebus crossed the bridge and encountered Ms. Riemowski. After a conversation that lasts approximately 15 minutes, Mr. Moebus submited his test electronically, confirming the time of that event.

She further accused Ross of being the Euklein hacker, arguing that the Euklein hacker would be the one most likely to ask if she had a backup.

She cited the following pieces of evidence: Crowe counter-argued that Johnson could very well have started grading, for want of anything better to do, since he was trapped on the island. He also objected that per Smiles, Kranf was not on the island until 5:30 or 6:30,contrary to what Harper said. He counter-proposed that Kranf hid the backup somewhere, not Moebus, since she had time, and Moebus didn't have access to a locked office.
 * Ross was known to have prescription lorazepam
 * Ross was known to have prepared a drink for the victim
 * Lorazepam was found in Kranf's system
 * Medical notes in lorazepam - it can act as a narcotic
 * The portable drive hadn't been found, and only Moebus could have carried it away
 * The core piece of evidence against Johnson was the locked room, so her theory has equal plausibility
 * It was unlikely that Johnson would just grade tests after killing a federal officer

Harper amended her theory: suspecting that Alexandra Kranf would return to the island in order to continue her investigation, Ross Moebus decided to go there to lay in wait for her. When she had arrived between the times of 6:20 PM and 6:30 PM (recall that Johnny Smiles's watch was fifty minutes off, not an hour off), he was prepared to kill her. By the time he found Alexandra Kranf outside, Nick Johnson had already gone into the building and thus was not even aware of the murder taking place. Once Ross Moebus had murdered Alexandra Kranf, Mr. Moebus searched her things..."

She further argued that it was reasonable to say Kranf thought the hacker was in that building, and it was unreasonable to assume otherwise, due to her fearing sabotage from the Brain Imaging Lab, and her going back to that building. She also claimed that Crowe's other points were irrelevant.

Crowe just pushed harder for explanations, and Ledger asked why Moebus would make such a scene right after the murder, but Harper rebutted that he was trying to distract himself from the murder he just committed. She also made a misstep and said that both theories require that respective targets to be lying, but Crowe argued that under his theory, Johnson doesn't have to lie, because he was being silent.

Crowe then began his true counterattack - the ISA found about Euklein three months ago, and the problem had been going on for over a month. This would suggest the hacker had been doing so for more than three months, but Moebus's connection with the research only began three months ago, so he would not have the motive to be the hacker!

Connie counterargued that by the Background Check, Moebus could have done the hacking to expose them and divert funds to Paville, so he could get a job there. When Connie asked about this, Ross became much more fidget-y than normal and began panicking on the courtroom floor. She also, as an aside, concludes that Moebus probably didn't find the backup, since he had to do such a thorough search for it.

The Defendant Speaks
At this point, Nick Johnson speaks up to remark that his project hadn't even gotten off the ground until after the Euklein scandal, so the motive given for Moebus makes no sense. Exasperated, the judge called for a recess, and for one final stand from the defense.

When the recess ended, Fulbright came in and testified that the police had searched the building from top-to-bottom, and apart for some chemical tests, had found nothing they deemed particularly suspicious, though some very well-hidden items could remain hidden.

Harper than said that over recess, Johnson told her that the victim also had a notebook which disappeared. (Smiles later confirmed this notebook being deck of cards sized, with a metal binding.) On the basis of Fulbright's search not finding anything, she argued that the items must have been taken off the island by Moebus. She also claimed as a motive that Moebus wanted to prevent any calamity from befalling Paville. There was some bickering over the plausibility of this, but Simon Lawrence eventually convinced the court that this was feasible, if it never occurred to Moebus that Johnson could get blamed.

Crowe then forced the defense to admit that Moebus took away "a notebook, a portable hard drive, a rag, a chloroform container, and a pair of chloroform-scented gloves" without Jackie or Smiles noticing. Lawrence claimed that Moebus through the items over the moat instead. Fulbright confirmed this was possible, though some things might break, and Moebus said that he had his keys and lorazepam with him, but he kept the rest of his possessions in his car.

Fulbright presented evidence to the court, including ashes in Johnson's trash can. Crowe claimed this was proof that Johnson had burned evidence. Meanwhile, Fulbright's evidence also included a dented lunchbox. Connie argued this was how Ross stored the evidence - he put it in the lunchbox and threw it over. She also used an evidence check from Smiles to show Kranf brought the hard drive to the island, so it had to still be there, unless it was somehow moved off.

End of the Day
Crowe, at this point, noted things were going in circles and summed up the problems with the case:

The defense's case rested on

* A motive for Ross Moebus. * The defendant's actions being crazy if he were the killer. * The lorazepam. * The missing hard drive * The missing notebook, gloves, and other possible burnables.

The Prosecution's case rested on

* A motive for the defendant. * Moebus's actions being crazy if he were the killer. * The ashes in the garbage can, suggesting destroyed evidence, like, say, a notebook, paper gloves, and so on. * The testimony of Ross Moebus.

Defense argued their motive was much stronger, but Crowe simply stated the motive "Committing premeditated murder to hinder an investigation into a hacking he couldn't possibly have committed in order to keep a low-paying job when he could get another one easily just because he's an anxious person?" to show it was weaker.

At this point, Connie delivers a rant to the court, saying that Crowe needs actual proof, and that the defense's motive made sense because Johnson intended to drive him to despair, leading to erratic behavior. Crowe is furious, says Johnson's research was unethical, and that would constitute a motive, hacking aside. Johnson bursts out at this point, saying that Connie was badly misquoting him, and "he does not need more false statements on the record when he's so close." He agrees to some searches, and the judge decides to dismiss the claims about the ethics of his research, and the effects it had on Ross, for the time being. Thus, the defense loses their motive.

The defense requests a search on the defendant's car for the cigarettes, to straighten out the ash issue. Defense also changes their motive to Moebus only intending to get the records from her, either to save his job or to save the notes on the black market, which the court accepts as plausible. The defense acknowledges this is also a possible motive for the defendant, however. Crowe gives a brief outline of his theory, as well as several places to search, focusing on what transpired in the investigation, and what the motives of the killer and Ms. Kranf were. There is heavy focus on possible ethical violations by Johnson.