can i be faulted for trusting the court house to get me unmodified audio on request?

a priori? no, probably not. that's a reasonable thing to rely on, if you don't know better.

but, in hindsight? i don't want to even use the word naive - it's not naive. it's just not a deep enough level of cynicism.

so, this isn't a logic error, it's a deficit of experience. i learn quickly :).