Free Web NovelChapter 878: Chapter 334: The Lawyer Who Got Played
Beside the attorney’s seat.
Le Jian and Ji Chunchun’s parents exchanged a glance and, without prior agreement, focused their gaze on the lawyer they had hired.
The lawyer they hired...
Was indeed a member of the Legal Pioneer Law Firm.
However...
For some reason, the lawyer named Wang Dachui accepted their case but did not personally handle it.
Instead, it was assigned to one of his subordinate lawyers.
It seems...
He is somewhat afraid of them, not wanting to be near them at all.
"Respected Judgment Chief, esteemed jurors, regarding the prosecution’s accusations, we have two points of disagreement."
The lawyer standing next to them also stepped forward, speaking in a somber tone: "Firstly, our five clients are between twelve and thirteen years old, not yet fourteen, and thus considered limited liability individuals."
"Their age and life experience are insufficient for a complete understanding of the world, as they are still in the stage of forming values, life views, and worldviews."
"Their wayward behavior caused harm to Sun Luoling, and I deeply regret this. Here, I extend sincere apologies and repentance to the victim’s family."
As he spoke.
He turned around, looked at Sun Hai, and bowed deeply.
Yet...
Sun Hai did not accept this gesture, responding with a cold snort.
Without even glancing at him.
The lawyer let out a wry smile and continued, "We do not wish for tragedies to occur, but since it has, we believe that for these misguided children... perhaps they deserve some leniency?"
"Their future is still promising; they committed the crime due to immature minds and youthful impetuosity."
"The initial intention behind the Juvenile Protection Law was indeed to safeguard these youths’ physical and mental well-being, ensuring their healthy growth in a favorable educational environment."
"Therefore, we believe that imprisonment punishment is excessively severe, and they should be sent to the Juvenile Detention Center for appropriate penalty."
"Secondly, there was some inappropriateness in the prosecutor’s allegations just now."
"Although my client recorded the video, it was not intentionally shared in various group chats, but rather accidentally spread. The motive was not to deliberately humiliate the victim."
"I implore the Judgment Chief and the jurors to investigate thoroughly."
After finishing his rebuttal.
The lawyer once again bowed deeply to Sun Hai and then returned to his attorney’s seat.
But Sun Hai...
Was infuriated by this line of defense.
Juvenile Detention Center!
Although he wasn’t familiar with this place before, after communicating with Qing Lan in recent days, he has somewhat learned about it.
In the country.
There are two exceptionally lenient prisons: the Juvenile Detention Center and the senior prison.
They can hardly be termed prisons.
They do not bring about physical and psychological reform, and could even be considered a vacation.
There is no strenuous work in the senior prison.
And the Juvenile Detention Center...
Has no physical labor at all; it is essentially like school, just stricter.
The main daily activities are reading, receiving ideological reform.
After all...
Child labor is impossible anywhere.
Proposing this point.
Clearly, they aim to help these five little devils evade responsibility!
"Bang—"
Just at this moment.
The Judgment Chief struck the gavel and said in a deep voice, "After the statements and rebuttals from both sides, the court will now summarize the key focus points of this case."
"The prosecution believes the defendant’s conduct to be extremely adverse, warranting a fixed-term imprisonment, while the defense holds that their actions should receive reduced penalties according to the law, handing them over to the Juvenile Detention Center."
"Next, we proceed to the evidence presentation and examination phase."
Immediately following this.
Under the Judgment Chief’s direction, the trial proceeded efficiently.
It directly proceeded to the next phase of evidence presentation and examination.
The prosecutor stepped forward first, outlining various criminal evidence against Le Yirou, Ji Chunchun, and others.
Such as the injury assessment certificate of Sun Luoling, disability certificate, audio-video evidence, surveillance proof, testimonies from classmates, and so on.
These pieces of evidence...
Have formed a complete evidence chain, corroborating their criminal behavior from various angles.
It’s almost undeniable.
Besides that, the prosecutor also listed additional reprehensible conduct by these five during their school days.
For instance, grouping up and beating a male student to the point of a concussion, followed by private settlements, with compensation paid.
Frequently extorting and threatening classmates after school, demanding others to hand over their living expenses.
These actions...
Are supported by testimonies and physical evidence, along with school surveillance, to validate them.
"From the above, we can see Le Yirou, Ji Chunchun, and the other five organized a series of criminal acts within the school, causing physical and mental persecution to the victims, thus severely violating school codes and breaching related national laws."
The prosecutor took a deep breath and powerfully accused, "For them, ordinary punishment is inadequate to serve warning and reform purposes."
In fact.
Upon receiving the case, the procuratorate convened discussions regarding the matter.
Ultimately.
Most still believe that exceptions should be made when necessary.
Such campus crime incidents...
If not punished, will continually happen in the future.
Le Yirou, Ji Chunchun, and others would not actually realize their mistakes but instead become more egregious.
Continuing to bully other students.
Though the Juvenile Protection Law is indeed designed to protect minors, those students being bullied are minors too.
They suffer physical and psychological harm and equally have the right to pursue charges against these perpetrators.
"Judgment Chief, prosecutor."
On the attorney’s seat.
The lawyer stepped forward once more, continuing to elaborate based on his own viewpoint: "There is an error in the evidence presented just now."
"We didn’t intentionally spread the video to various group chats; it was just a slip of the hand and sent to the wrong group."
This defense point...
was discussed by several lawyers at the Legal Pioneer Law Firm.
The point of prosecution accuses them of deliberately releasing a video of Sun Luoling in tattered clothes, in a wretched state, causing tremendous reputational and psychological damage to Sun Luoling.
But...
as far as he understands, the five people, including Le Yirou, had no such intention.
It was purely a case of sending to the wrong place.
The motivations are completely different, also determining the gravity of the crime.
The former is an unintended act.
The latter is a deliberate trampling on others’ dignity, ruining their reputation with significant consequences.
"Do you have any evidence that they didn’t deliberately forward it?"
The prosecutor furrowed his brow and directly retorted.
During the trial,
any claim made requires corresponding evidence to support it.
"To my knowledge, our clients had already vented and let Sun Luoling return to the dormitory."
The lawyer took a deep breath and argued, "What they did was not bright or commendable, and there’s no need to send the video to other groups to boast."
"On the contrary, this would expose their bullying of Sun Luoling and draw the school’s attention."
"I believe no normal person would do that, right?"
He didn’t start directly from the evidence perspective but instead delved into logic.
This issue pertains to motive.
In criminal trial.
When lacking direct evidence, inferring the criminal motive is necessary.
For example, someone inadvertently shared a colored video to the family group, and many people viewed it.
Allegedly committed the crime of disseminating xx items.
But he argued that he just wanted to forward it to a small number, unintentionally sent it wrongly.
This motive issue...
can be deduced logically to arrive at the corresponding result.
The law is strict.
Criminal trials require rigor in every detail.
For instance.
Zhang San is a truck driver, unknowingly helped someone transport drugs to another city.
Found by police, he argued he didn’t know the goods contained drugs.
Originally,
according to criminal law, transport without knowing the truth wouldn’t constitute a crime.
But upon interrogation, police found he usually earns 3000 per trip, but this time received 10000.
This was unclear.
Therefore,
criminal law defines him as being aware the goods had problems, constituting an accomplice.
Sometimes, mere denial doesn’t negate the motive.
And this lawyer’s defense angle...
takes off from the clients’ logic, trying to minimize the "psychological harm behavior" of the five people.
This is guided by Zhang Wei from their law firm.
If successful, there’s a full chance to strive for treatment at the Juvenile Detention Center.
However.
The prosecutor remained unhurried.
Stepped up and reminded, "Your logic is correct, but it doesn’t rule out that they, after venting, didn’t satisfy their venting desire, deliberately spreading the video."
"In the enforcement process by police, we can repeatedly see, they keep stating that they are minors, obviously knowing juvenile crimes don’t bear any responsibility, emboldened."
"Therefore, we have reasons to believe they spread the video deliberately out of a second revenge motive."
Finished speaking.
The prosecutor once again produced the enforcement recorder footage from that time, and played it in court.
"Let go of me, I’m not an adult yet, what right do you have to arrest me?"
"From the next class, Zhang Qiang smashed someone’s bones, but you didn’t arrest him, yet we just scratched her a couple of times, why arrest us?"
"Let go of me, you can’t arrest me!"
"..."
A few crisp voices emerged.
The speakers were Le Yirou, Ji Chunchun, and others.
When first caught, their attitudes were somewhat arrogant and defiant.
And when the defense attorney for Le Yirou and others saw this evidence, his face immediately changed.
The previous confidence...
vanished in an instant.
He couldn’t help but turn around, looking at the defendant’s bench with the five people of Le Yirou.
Unexpectedly...
they faced the police without any sign of cowardice.
Could speak these words with righteous conviction.
In this way, his logic-based reasoning failed to work.
Judging by their actions, it’s highly possible it was indeed out of second revenge that the video was forwarded to the group.
"From logical inference, the probability of them mistakenly forwarding the video is not large."
After presenting the evidence, the prosecutor continued, "Furthermore, after posting the video, there was a two-minute time window to cancel it, they had ample time to react and retract it."
"But they chose not to cancel it, instead let it continue to spread and circulate in various groups, clearly indicating impure motives."
"Their bullying and harming of Sun Luoling physically came first, maliciously spreading defamatory videos, trampling on Sun Luoling’s dignity and reputation later; the circumstances are extremely vile and naturally deserve severe punishment!"
The prosecutor’s voice.
Each word.
Constantly reverberated in the courtroom.
Yet the defense attorney’s face became increasingly unsightly.
Suddenly fell silent.
