Then he presented something I had not expected. He called Ununice Garfield by telephone. She had agreed to be available and she confirmed under oath to the panel that I had been her customer for 9 years that she recognized me, that she recognized the transaction and that she had personally reviewed the footage before preserving it.
Garland objected to the telephonic testimony. Barbara Ye noted the objection and overruled it. Then James presented the number history. 11 years of the same numbers purchased every Thursday documented through my customer account at Garfields. The numbers themselves, Roland’s birthday, my birthday, our wedding year, verified against my own documentation, which I had provided in a sworn affidavit.
Then he presented one more thing. I had not known about this one. James had found it through a subpoena of Derek’s phone records, which the panel had the authority to request given the formal nature of the dispute. Three days after the winning numbers were announced, and 2 days before the morning with the suitcase, Derek had made a phone call to the Ohio Lottery Commission’s winner information line.