29 My Commander Projected My Face On A Screen And Called Me A Traitor — He Didn't Know The Original Recording Still Had My Father's Voice On It

The trial of Lieutenant Colonel Marcus Webb began in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, in May of the following year.

It lasted eleven days.

It was presided over by a federal judge named Margaret Holloway. It was prosecuted by an assistant U.S. Attorney named Maria Delgado. It was defended by a team of three attorneys paid for by Webb's family.

The prosecution called twenty-four witnesses.

The first was Anne Cho. She testified for six hours. She walked the jury through the investigation. She walked them through the wiretap transcript and the confidential informant and the financial records and the travel records. She walked them through the recording on Rafael Vega's USB drive. She walked them through the recording from Kunar Province. She walked them through the altered recording that had been played in the auditorium.

The second was Special Agent Marcus Reyes, the forensic examiner from the FBI lab in Quantico. He testified for two hours. He explained the science of voice analysis. He explained how voices could be compared. He explained how he had compared the voice on Rafael Vega's USB drive to the voice on the altered recording from the auditorium to the voice on the wiretap transcript from the confidential informant. He explained that all three were the same voice. He identified the voice as the voice of Lieutenant Colonel Marcus Webb.

The third was Marcus Webb's executive assistant, a master sergeant named Tanya Vo. She testified for forty minutes. She described the trips to Dubai. She described the phone calls. She described the bank account in the Cayman Islands that she had seen on a document on Webb's desk. She described the moment when she had realized that her boss was doing something she could not explain.

The fourth was Major Stephen Knox. He testified for three hours. He described his thirty-year friendship with Marcus Webb. He described the phone calls they had exchanged in the three weeks before the auditorium. He described the things Webb had told him about the case. He described the things Webb had told him about the specialist. He described the moment in the auditorium when the recording was played and he heard his best friend's voice change the target from Koh-e Safi to Deh Bala.

He was cross-examined for two hours by the defense attorney. The defense attorney tried to make him look like a man who was betraying his friend. He tried to make him look like a man who was trying to save his own career by sacrificing a friend. He tried to make him look like a man who had been pressured by the CID into testifying.

Major Knox did not take the bait.

"Major Knox," the defense attorney said, "is it not true that you are testifying against Lieutenant Colonel Webb because you are afraid of being charged yourself?"

"I am not being charged myself," Knox said. "I have been granted immunity in exchange for my testimony. But I did not ask for immunity. I asked to testify. I asked to testify because I stood in an auditorium and I listened to a recording and I realized that my best friend had used me to destroy a young soldier. And I am not going to spend the rest of my life being the man who was used."

"Is it not true that you hate Lieutenant Colonel Webb?"

"No. I love him. He was my best friend. He was the best man at my wedding. He is the godfather of my daughter. And he used me. And I am going to spend the rest of my life grieving the man he used to be. But I am not going to protect him. Because protecting him would mean protecting the man who killed eleven people. And I am not going to do that. Not for my best friend. Not for anyone."

The courtroom was silent.

"No further questions," the defense attorney said.

The fifth witness was Elena Vega.

She testified for two hours. She described her career. She described her father. She described the phrase he had taught her when she was eight years old. She described the recording that had been played in the auditorium. She described the moment when she had recognized her father's voice.

She described the moment when she had said, "That's my father's voice. He didn't leak anything. He was translating."

She described the moment in the CID office when Anne Cho had pressed play on the recording from her father's USB drive and she had heard the voice of Marcus Webb say, "The target is in Koh-e Safi. I want Deh Bala hit."

She was cross-examined for ninety minutes by the defense attorney. He tried to make her look like a liar. He tried to make her look like a traitor. He tried to make her look like a woman who had fabricated a story to save her career.

Elena did not take the bait.

"Staff Sergeant Vega," the defense attorney said, "is it not true that you called Lieutenant Colonel Webb at his home on the evening of the eleventh of November and accused him of a crime?"

"Yes, sir. It is true."

"Is it not true that this call was made without the authorization of the CID agent who was running the investigation?"

"Yes, sir. It is true."

"Is it not true that this call caused the investigation to be suspended for six weeks?"

"Yes, sir. It is true."

"Is it not true that you were formally reprimanded in writing for making this call?"

"Yes, sir. It is true."

"And yet you expect this jury to believe that you are a credible witness?"

Elena looked at him.

"Sir," she said, "I am not asking this jury to believe that I am a credible witness. I am asking this jury to believe the evidence. The evidence is a recording. The recording was made by my father in 2018. My father was a contract interpreter who worked for the United States Army for thirty-one years. He kept the recording in a safe deposit box in Tucson for nine years. He left the recording to me. I gave the recording to the FBI. The FBI analyzed the recording. The FBI said the voice on the recording belongs to Marcus Webb. That is not my testimony. That is the FBI's testimony. That is the evidence. And the evidence is the truth."