Trial By Silence
Trial by Silence
David Mercer survived the exposure of Docket 53. Now the system wants him erased.
The courtroom is no longer where justice is decided. It is where silence is enforced.
The system wants David Mercer erased.
The retaliation
David Mercer survived the exposure of Docket 53. Now the system wants him erased.
After taking on the corruption buried inside the courts, Mercer finds himself facing the kind of retaliation only powerful people can engineer: professional ruin, public suspicion, and a legal machine designed to silence him before he can strike again.
Bar complaints, federal pressure, and media attacks close in from every direction, turning Mercer’s career, reputation, and past into weapons against him.
The fight of his career
But Mercer knows the law better than the people trying to weaponize it against him.
As old family secrets close in, Mercer is forced into the fight of his career—not only to defend his name, but to expose the deeper architecture of the conspiracy Raymond Mercer once helped build.
The courtroom is no longer where justice is decided.
It is where silence is enforced.
And David Mercer is about to break it.
The conspiracy reaches Book Three.
The Sealed Deal
Prequel novella · The first encounter with the machine.
Inheritance of Lies
Book One · Docket 53 is pulled into the light.
Shadow Network
Book Two · The conspiracy expands and begins fighting back.
Trial by Silence
Book Three · Mercer becomes the target.
Mercer is fighting for more than his name.
Professional Ruin
Bar complaints and disciplinary pressure threaten to strip Mercer of the career he built and destroy his credibility before he can expose anything else.
Federal Pressure
The retaliation extends beyond one courtroom as federal scrutiny and institutional power begin closing off every path Mercer might use to fight back.
Raymond’s Architecture
Old family secrets reveal that Raymond Mercer may have helped build the very conspiracy David is now trying to dismantle.
The legal machine turns on one of its own.
What to expect
- Bar complaints and professional disciplinary pressure.
- Federal scrutiny and institutional retaliation.
- A media campaign designed to destroy Mercer publicly.
- Old family secrets connected to Raymond Mercer.
- A conspiracy deeper than Docket 53.
The central conflict
Mercer is no longer simply uncovering hidden files or chasing the people operating behind the courts.
The system is attacking his name, his license, his credibility, and his ability to stand in a courtroom at all.
To survive, he must use the law against the people who believe they control it.
Find Derek Fermin’s books.
Trial by Silence arrives August 11, 2026. Browse Derek Fermin’s complete collection through your preferred bookseller or reader platform.