Chapter 45: Debating Self-Surrender! |
Hu Guang had been a prosecutor for over two decades. Starting from the very bottom, he had worked his way up step by step. Now, in his early forties and the prime of his life, he sat as the head of the First Criminal Division of the Second Supervisory Department at the municipal prosecutor''s office.
Was there a type of case he hadn''t fought?
Was there an opponent he hadn''t faced?
Yet, in all his life, Hu Guang had never heard of a suspect being considered to have surrendered voluntarily when seven police officers had already fired warning shots to secure the scene.
This was beyond arrogant.
This was absolute madness!
"Defense counsel, this is a court of law. Every word you say will be entered into the record."
Hu Guang''s tone was chilling, his voice striking deep into everyone''s hearts as he spoke:
"Please organize your thoughts before speaking!"
In a courtroom, your words could be aggressive, and they could mislead.
But spouting utter nonsense was a massive taboo!
Not only would it fail to help the case, but it would muddy otherwise clear logic, dragging the trial into a quagmire.
Under these circumstances, any strict presiding judge would have issued an immediate warning.
Moreover, once the court adjourned, the lawyer would become a laughingstock, a rat crossing the street, and their antics would be reduced to a joke over dinner.
However...
"I am perfectly rational. The prosecution does not need to worry!"
Xu De flatly rejected the warning. Sitting at the defense bench, he met the man''s gaze without a shred of fear.
The year was 2002. This was a highly specific period in time. What made it so special?
Statutorily, the legal system practiced the principle of innocent until proven guilty, but in practice, investigative bodies still followed the presumption of guilt.
This eventually led to an explosion of overturned wrongful convictions in later years. The number of people exonerated over a span of a few years would be staggering, and nearly sixty percent of those wrongful convictions were handed down right around this time, in 2002...
Therefore, he could not afford to soften his stance for even a moment!
"The defense is absolutely certain."
"In this case, the defendant, Wang Qiang, was not arrested by the police. Rather, he engaged in self-surrender proactively and without outside interference!"
He was... completely serious.
Hu Guang''s brows instantly twisted into a knot. He sat back down in his seat, unable to speak for a long time.
Up on the judges'' bench.
The three judges also furrowed their brows, though they were not in a rush to express their stance.
A moment later.
The presiding judge, Zhang Bingxin, struck his gavel once more.
"Bang!"
"Defense, please state the basis for your claim."
As his words fell, Zhang Bingxin locked his eyes onto the opposing lawyer, refusing to let a single detail slip by.
As mentioned earlier, if the other party was spouting nonsense just to disrupt the prosecution''s rhythm, then he had every right to issue a warning.
If multiple warnings proved ineffective, what awaited Xu De would be...
Expulsion from the courtroom!
"Presiding Judge, Judges, the basis for the defense is quite simple."
Xu De took a deep breath, temporarily setting aside his emotional opposition to the prosecution to free up enough mental energy and focus for his delivery.
"Just now, the prosecution submitted the testimonies provided by the seven police officers present at the scene, along with the police case files."
He spoke, gesturing slightly toward the evidence laid out before the judges.
It was still the evidence submitted by the prosecution.
As for why he specifically singled out this piece of evidence...
"May I ask, within this case file, what is the exact original text of the police''s concluding summary regarding the homicide in this case!?"
Xu De''s gaze sharpened as his brain went into overdrive, processing information like a computer''s CPU.
Up on the judges'' bench.
Judge Liu Jianguo paused slightly. He looked down, then picked up the case file.
"This case file was provided by the police for this case."
"The paragraph indicated by the defense reads as follows..."
He paused, then began to read aloud:
"Original text: After the incident, the suspect remained at the scene without any attempt to flee, and was subsequently taken back to the Greenwood City Public Security Bureau by police officers. The suspect has been brought to justice. After investigation, the facts of the case are clear and the evidence is conclusive..."
This was the case file written by the police.
If one observed carefully, it wasn''t hard to notice a certain detail, which was...
"May I ask the prosecution and the presiding judge, regarding the original police text..."
Xu De paused before spitting out a single question.
"Does it ever state that the defendant, Wang Qiang, was brought to justice via arrest!?"
The moment those words dropped.
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
Immediately after.
Visibly, all seven people between the prosecution bench and the judges'' bench looked down in unison at the case files in their hands.
Wang Wei wanted to say something, but the case file right in front of him indeed did not mention the words ''arrest'', ''captured'', or any similar terms even once!
In other words...
"The police never stated that the killer was brought to justice via arrest!"
"This so-called concept of capture..."
Xu De pursued them relentlessly. Seeing that the time was ripe, he immediately launched a counter-charge against the prosecution.
His gaze was intensely sharp, sweeping toward Hu Guang and the others like flashing blades.
"Is entirely a subjective conclusion drawn by the prosecution, blatantly lacking in objective facts and basis!"
As his voice echoed.
Hu Guang and Wang Wei''s expressions shifted drastically.
Immediately following that, the reason for their changing expressions drifted over from the public gallery.
"So you''re saying after the killing... the police didn''t say it was an arrest? Then how did the prosecution peg it as an arrest!?"
"Prosecutors Hu Guang and Wang Wei? Could it be that those two did this just to increase their chances of winning..."
"Something feels off. Whether it was an arrest or not, wouldn''t the defendant know best..."
"No, the defense says it wasn''t an arrest, and the prosecution says it wasn''t self-surrender... then how did the defendant end up at the police station!? Can someone sort this out for me..."
"..."
The crowd in the gallery was stunned.
Their previously raised brows were now twisted into knots. Furthermore, countless pairs of eyes filled with suspicion occasionally swept through the crowd, landing on Hu Guang and Wang Wei at the prosecution bench.
There wasn''t a lot of information that could definitively dictate the winning direction of a case.
But whether or not it was a self-surrender fell exactly into that category!
Right now.
Listening to the voices of doubt from the crowd below.
Wang Wei and Hu Guang furrowed their brows tightly at the prosecution bench.
Dirty water... this was nakedly slinging dirty water at them!
Neither of them were overly precious about their reputations, but they certainly didn''t want to be verbally abused by thousands of people!
"The prosecution has something to say!"
Wang Wei hurriedly stood up. He didn''t wait for a response from the presiding judge; upon rising, he stated directly:
"The prosecutor''s office absolutely harbored no intention of deliberately approving an arrest. Every application undergoes repeated deliberation before a conclusion is reached."
"Regarding this case, the prosecution''s basis is: the threat at the scene had been neutralized, and the police were in control of the scene!"
In the legal definitions of self-surrender, there indeed existed situations of on-the-spot self-surrender.
But that was strictly limited to when the scene was chaotic and the police had not yet brought everyone under control. Once control was established... if you proactively confessed and sought leniency then, it still counted as an arrest.
"Prosecution, I must correct you!"
"According to Article 67 of the Criminal Law, while referencing the ''National Standardized Training Materials for Judges''."
"''If the crime scene is chaotic and police forces have not yet established a perimeter, it qualifies as an on-scene awaiting-arrest type of self-surrender''."
Xu De shook his head, his tone steady, almost as if he were simply reading from a script.
He declared:
"After the incident occurred, the individuals involved in the melee at the scene were not under control; they were merely deterred by the warning shots. Some individuals still held weapons in their hands!"
"The so-called neutralized threat did not exist. Instead, the scene remained chaotic and uncontrolled."
"The defendant suspect, Wang Qiang, meets any of the aforementioned laws and regulations, clearly qualifying as..."
"Self-surrender!"
Besides that...
Xu De paused. He furrowed his brows, then took a deep breath.
"Regarding the prosecution''s point concerning the Thirty-Second Window after the defendant Wang Qiang exited the vehicle..."
The above was the explanation for self-surrender. Relying solely on self-surrender to consolidate their stance would, at best, result in a draw against the opposing side.
But it didn''t matter. He hadn''t played all his cards yet.
"The defense..."
"Has a witness!"