It was the first trial that Eugene and Arthur watched, but it wasn't the first trial for this particular case. The trial against the 'matchmaker' had been held before, and the man didn't even try to deny anything.
Truly. You would think he'd argue a little bit; that his intention was never to traffic, that he was only helping people in need of money, that all of his clients were doing it with full consent. Eugene thought the person would argue that Ian's parents were asking for help with money, and that he had no idea they were coercing Ian—which was Eugene's biggest fear, because they couldn't really prove otherwise without finding his grandparents.
And Eugene wasn't even sure they were still alive, so...
And yet, the matchmaker confessed to everything. The defense attorney was only there to plead for sentence reduction by cooperating. This was how the case quickly shifted to a specific one pertaining to Ian.
