Chad got up and walked over to the witness stand, winking at Jia. I saw her jaw muscles flex and imagined her pounding him to death with the thick Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure book in front of her.

“State your name for the record,” the defense attorney said.

“Chad Irwin.”

“And, Chad, you remember the events we’ve been discussing?”

“I do.”

“Now don’t worry about the stop—I mean, you were speeding, right?”

“Right.”

“Let’s just focus on when the trooper forced you to open the trunk. What do you remember about that?”

“I was sitting on the ground behind my car, and my hands were cuffed behind my back. The cuffs were so tight I had bruises on my wrists for like a week after. And so they find a little bit of pot, and Todd says it was his and that he’d smoked it like a day ago and that I hadn’t had any. So the cop said he would give him a ticket and let us go. He tested my eyes and made me walk in a straight line and things like that, but said I was fine and that they were gonna let us go.”

“Then what happened?”

“When I was sitting down, he came over and said that he wanted to search the trunk.”

“What did you say?”

“I first said no. Then he leaned down like really close to me. Like really close. Right in my face. And he said he’s searching that trunk one way or another, and that I could make it easy or I could make it hard. I seriously thought he might tase me or break my arm or something. He’s a big dude, too.”

“Were you nervous?”

“Hell yeah, I was nervous. When a cop gets in your face and tells you he’s gonna hurt you, you do what he says. So I said the keys were in my pocket, and he took them and opened the trunk.”

“Would you have given him the keys if he hadn’t threatened you?”

“No way. That’s why I told him no that first time.”

“Thank you, nothing further.”

The judge looked at Will and said, “Any cross, Mr. Aggie?”