Too Bad I Take Things Seriously

Chapter 798: Chapter 283: This is Simply a Heavenly Mahjong Hand Start!

Meanwhile, in the jury box, the twelve members of the jury had been gradually examining the evidence, their expressions varied. Many nodded; they naturally trusted the evidence George presented. After all, George had also claimed to be a believer and had sworn an oath before God. He shouldn’t lie to them.

The jurors whispered among themselves.

"Those two old people from the other party probably aren’t any good either."

"All sorts of people pop up these days. How dare they visit our country with that kind of attitude? Our country doesn’t welcome people like that!"

"I could tell from the fact they didn’t dare swear on the Bible. Their words aren’t trustworthy."

"This evidence should prove they signed voluntarily, right? The handwriting analysis report is out."

Combining the legal knowledge the judge had just explained to them, although they didn’t fully understand it, their intuition told them all the necessary evidence was there. From every angle, it seemed Zhang Qingyuan and Feng Cuihua were the problem.

"Silence!"

In the courtroom, Old Judge Anthony struck his gavel and sternly reiterated the court’s disciplinary rules. Afterward, he looked toward the defendant’s side, where Qin Mu and the others were, and asked, "The plaintiff has just submitted evidence supporting their claims. It is now your turn to present relevant evidence to prove your claims."

Qin Mu nodded and immediately stood up. The trial system under common law is quite similar to the domestic statutory law system, as both include a phase for presenting evidence. However, the statutory law system calls it the evidence presentation and cross-examination phase, while foreign systems often lack a direct equivalent to cross-examination in this manner. In civil litigation, both parties present evidence to substantiate their claims and reconstruct the facts, leaving the remainder for the judge and jury to decide.

"The evidence mentioned by the opposing counsel just now..." Qin Mu raised his head, glanced at George, and stated indifferently, "Logically, it’s a clear obfuscation of concepts and a malicious attempt to stir up trouble. First, our claim is that their deceptive behavior led our clients to willingly sign the agreement. Even if the handwriting proves our clients signed it, this does not prove the absence of deception. Secondly, the evidence presented by the opposing party includes information selectively taken out of context from our country’s news media, attempting to slander our clients’ character."

He then recounted the full details of the incident that had occurred in Jin City. Initially, Old Zhang had encountered a phone scam. He then improvised a display of his ventriloquism skills, using the scammer’s call as a pretext. He was not the utterly unscrupulous man their selectively chosen narrative suggested.

"Third, here is our evidence: the testimonies collected from other elderly tourists in the group."

In front of everyone, Qin Mu presented a piece of evidence—notarized testimonies. These elderly individuals could be summoned to court at any time to verify the authenticity of their statements. The testimonies detailed how these seniors had participated in lodging complaints against the various money-extracting schemes of this unscrupulous tour group. To recover the money they had paid, these elderly people had all agreed to cooperate and were willing to testify in court.

Qin Mu looked at George and continued his refutation, "You asked earlier why only our clients were unwilling to pay. In reality, none of the elderly tourists were willing to pay! Both logically and legally, this clearly indicates something is amiss!"

However, despite Qin Mu’s rebuttal, George remained unfazed. Instead, a cold smile touched his lips. "The evidence you’ve presented was very likely concocted by you and those elderly individuals. You colluded to renege on the donation. After all, you’re all from the same country, making it easier for you to communicate and conspire. We’ve seen far too much of such collusion."

He seemed to have anticipated this point. Turning to glance at the judge and the jurors behind him, George continued, "This is a courtroom. Everything hinges on evidence. How credible can testimonies be from people who refuse to swear an oath? Moreover, given the clear conflict of interest between you and them, their testimonies are not trustworthy."

With that, he proceeded to refute the testimonies of the elderly individuals one by one, attacking their legal validity and admissibility. This case involved a civil financial dispute. Fundamentally, the other elderly tourists were in the same position as Zhang Qingyuan and Feng Cuihua; they had all signed documents under similar circumstances. Testifying under such conditions, he argued, was not permissible according to the laws of this country.

The two sides clashed fiercely, arguing back and forth for a full half-hour.

BANG!

In the courtroom, Old Judge Anthony, observing the impasse, struck his gavel. "According to civil procedure law, the validity of this evidence requires further examination. The defense is requested to present additional evidence."

He glanced at Qin Mu and announced his ruling. freewёbnoνel.com

Actually, from the outset of the case, Judge Anthony had been inclined to support Xu Liming and George’s position. Both in terms of law and the evidence presented, their side had earned his approval. Although Qin Mu and his team had alleged deceptive conduct on the part of Xu Liming and his associates, they had consistently failed to produce compelling evidence. Currently, while it seemed highly probable that Xu Liming’s party had engaged in such behavior, without concrete proof, the judge could only operate under the presumption that such conduct had not occurred. The courtroom was, after all, a place where evidence was paramount.

Below, in the jury box, the jurors, witnessing this exchange, also began to whisper and discuss among themselves again.

"What exactly is going on? Why is everyone from the entire tour group claiming they were scammed? Did this tour group really sell mineral water at such outrageous prices?"

"Looking at the defendants’ expressions, it really seems like they were scammed."