Chapter 76: Severing the Tail to Survive! |
To be honest, before this, if someone had said they were going to play a Xianxia movie during a court hearing, absolutely no one would have believed it.
But right now, if someone were to say that... Xu De would be somewhat inclined to believe it.
Brilliant... simply brilliant!
The sight of Huang Shi racking his brain for legal statutes to attack with, and Zhang Wei and Sun Bing fighting back—how was it any different from the protagonists in those TV shows forming hand seals to duel with magic!?
The only difference was that Huang Shi wasn't grabbing a legal codex and smashing it over his opponents' heads.
But all movies eventually come to an end.
On the judge's bench.
Presiding Judge Zhang Bingxin suppressed his anger and said to Xu De, "Counsel, please present the evidence you have submitted as quickly as possible!"
The eyes of the entire courtroom immediately snapped to the counsel's table.
Xu De dropped his spectator mindset. Taking a deep breath, he slowly stood up.
"Honorable Presiding Judge, Honorable Judges."
"My side has already explained... the origin of this evidence."
As he spoke, he paused slightly.
Then, his gaze locked fiercely onto the witness stand, his eyes narrowing.
"It is a video recording of the witness, conducted legally and compliantly by my side in the No. 18 Middle School office on December 2nd!"
"The witness has already confirmed the entire recording to be valid and legal, and its contents are entirely true."
"The video has not been edited, spliced, or taken out of context. I ask the court to admit it into evidence!"
"If that is not enough..."
As he spoke.
A gentle smile appeared on Xu De's face. He smiled at Lu Guangjun and said, "Presiding Judge, you may question our witness, Lu Guangjun, regarding this evidence."
Our witness?
Upon hearing this, Zhang Wei and Sun Bing at the defense table were so furious they nearly spat blood. Their already ugly expressions twisted even further.
What did he mean, his witness?
Although they had heard before the trial that opposing counsel liked to use evidence submitted by his opponents, and that Hu Guang and Chen Wei had been screwed over by him a few times...
But...
Could witnesses be used like that too?
They were the ones who had brought him here! Could a witness actually be shared by both sides!?
But having reached this point, it was exactly as Xu De had said. Lu Guangjun's usefulness to the defense... was far less than his usefulness to Xu De!
A single video, a short conversation of just a few dozen minutes, had instantly punctured the defense's entire month of preparation, rendering it useless.
"Objection!"
Zhang Wei took a deep breath.
He knew he couldn't let Lu Guangjun speak right now. If the man said something at this moment...
Zhang Wei might not even be able to protect himself!
"Presiding Judge, the evidence submitted by the counsel has severely disrupted our witness's mental and emotional state!"
"We request that the witness be recused; he is in no condition to participate in the cross-examination for this trial!"
His voice was loud, and he spoke rapidly.
He even interrupted Zhang Bingxin's exchange with Xu De, which theoretically should have earned him a warning.
But Zhang Bingxin clearly had no intention of warning him right now.
He frowned and turned toward the witness stand.
At the witness stand.
"How is this possible..."
"This... how is this possible... didn't he leave... wasn't the recording device held by that lawyer..."
At this moment.
Standing at the witness stand, Lu Guangjun's face was deathly pale. His eyes were blank and lifeless, and he was muttering something unintelligible.
His whole body felt weak, and he trembled slightly, feeling a deep fatigue seeping into his bones.
Lu Guangjun was utterly bewildered. The mid-December weather was in the middle of a cold snap, yet he was drenched in sweat, as if he had just taken a hot shower.
He racked his brains but couldn't figure out when this video had been recorded.
Until...
'I forgot to bring the contract and my backpack...'
'Mr. Lu, from this moment on, this conversation is officially over...'
'See you in court...'
In a daze, the three sentences Xu De had spoken to him on the 2nd echoed in his mind.
This...
A trap...
This was a massive trap!
Lu Guangjun understood now. At this moment, he understood with absolute clarity.
From the very beginning, the other party asking about a so-called accomplice was just to inflict psychological pressure on him. After a few questions, his stress levels had already exploded, and he felt as though a mountain was crushing him.
Then, after the other party left, he had frantically made that phone call.
And because of that... he had been clearly recorded by the camera in that bag...
Even the initial so-called verbal agreement and the communication privacy contract were traps the other party had designed in advance. Even the phrase what is there to be afraid of was deliberately said to goad him!
A lunatic... this lunatic!
He had never intended to have a conversation. He had suspected him from the start and set a trap for him from beginning to end!!!
In an instant.
Lu Guangjun's eyes became bloodshot, and his breathing grew increasingly rapid. He felt that his future was rapidly slipping away from him.
"This... this..."
"No, I didn't say this! I didn't say this!"
"Fake evidence! This is fake evidence!!!"
Once this evidence was solidified...
His job, teaching credentials, compensation, reputation, family... gone, it would all be gone!
He might even face criminal charges himself!
Lu Guangjun suddenly stared at Zhang Bingxin, his face full of terror as he screamed hoarsely, "I didn't agree to let him record! I didn't know!!!"
Seeing this.
Counsel Xu De just smiled and said, "Mr. Lu, please don't get excited."
"In the video, you clearly stated that it was legal and valid... you admitted this yourself."
Upon hearing this, Lu Guangjun became even more agitated.
"I didn't! I never said that!!!"
He was like a mad dog on the side of the road, barking to scare the other party away, but unfortunately, he was a chained mad dog with zero deterrent power.
A calm smile still hung on Xu De's face.
Witnessing this scene.
On the judge's bench.
Presiding Judge Zhang Bingxin finally couldn't bear to watch any longer. He let out a sigh and brought down the gavel.
"Remove the witness for recusal."
Lu Guangjun's current condition was no longer suitable for cross-examination. Letting him stay would only delay the trial.
Things had already been stirred into a massive mess by Xu De. If it got any messier...
Zhang Bingxin feared his hair would turn white overnight.
"Bang!"
The gavel fell.
Several bailiffs stepped forward and dragged the highly agitated Lu Guangjun outside.
"Slander! This is slander!"
"I didn't agree to let you record... I never agreed to it!!!"
His voice faded into the distance.
Finally, it disappeared into the corridor of the side door, as if he had been dragged away and devoured by a wild beast.
"Counsel, did your side bring the recording equipment to the courtroom?"
Zhang Bingxin looked at Xu De, rubbing his temples as he asked.
"It has been brought. It is the latest model camera, completely legal."
Xu De immediately took out the recording camera.
To determine if a piece of evidence was valid, you only needed to look at two points:
whether the party involved was aware, and whether the equipment was legal!
Indeed, in the eyes of the law, the model of the recording equipment was also very important.
If you used a pinhole camera to record, even if you pointed the camera right at the person and both parties agreed, the law still wouldn't recognize it.
Of course, most cameras on the market complied with the law.
The one Xu De used to record naturally counted as well.
The court clerk examined it for quite a while before looking at Zhang Bingxin and nodding, essentially acknowledging the legality of the equipment.
Zhang Bingxin hesitated to speak.
Suddenly.
The entire courtroom fell quiet. It lost the noise and boiling excitement from before, replaced by a dead silence.
From a legal perspective, Xu De's actions... were entirely legal.
He had first informed him of the recording method, the recording time, clearly pointed out the location of the camera, and objectively asked questions related to the case...
Even the fact that he had left midway was legal!
Theoretically, when there is only one person left alone, the recording has already violated their expectation of personal privacy.
But at the start of the recording, Xu De had directly left Lu Guangjun in the office...
A public office!
In terms of the law, a private office and a public office are completely different levels of privacy. Even if there is no one in a public office, recording does not constitute an invasion of personal privacy, only an invasion of privacy expectations.
Just a difference of two words, but legally, whether it was a violation was a world apart!
And after he left midway.
The things Lu Guangjun said... just happened to perfectly align with the questions Xu De had asked earlier, meaning they did not meet the criteria of being unrelated to the questions.
Although the validity of a contract couldn't override the law, when all the above factors were combined, the contract was actually valid!
"Did he do it on purpose?"
On the judge's bench.
Judge Zhao Xing also pondered for a long while before finally unable to resist looking at Xu De.
With all these factors stacked together... it was hard to believe that a person having a normal conversation could achieve this without prior preparation.
"Even if he did it on purpose, it doesn't matter."
Lu Guowei carefully weighed this evidence and finally whispered, wincing as if he had a toothache.
"Subjectively it was intentional, but objectively the evidence is entirely legal!"
"Even though we could use non-compliance and the judge's discretionary power to reject the evidence... you know very well that ironclad evidence cannot be struck down."
As his voice fell.
The judge's bench fell silent.
With a surprise evidence ambush during cross-examination, the judge certainly had the right to strike down the evidence as a form of punishment.
But.
Just as Xu De had said before.
A judge would only strike down minor evidence that deliberately delayed time and was useless to the case!
In all of Dongguo, across thousands of courts, not a single judge would dare to strike down ironclad evidence, even if it was submitted as a surprise ambush... even if the submitter was arrogant enough to directly confront the judge in court!
This evidence still couldn't be struck down.
The reason was very simple.
First, the court was here to try a case. Their goal was to legally and reasonably finish the trial; there was no reason to go to war against evidence.
Second... if you dared to reject the evidence.
Then after the verdict, someone else would naturally use this evidence to attack you!
Homicide cases are extremely prone to a second-instance appeal. As long as the other party submitted the rejected evidence to a higher court during the second instance... the first-instance verdict would one hundred percent be overturned and sent back for retrial.
And that wasn't all. Aside from the retrial, the handling judge would one hundred percent face severe disciplinary action!
So...
Unless Xu De jumped onto the judge's bench and started dancing, as long as it wasn't overly excessive, they could pretend not to see it.
After pondering for a long time.
"Defendant!"
"Defendant's family!"
Zhang Bingxin suddenly shifted his gaze to the defendant's table and to Liu Jingqi's family.
"Regarding the aforementioned video, is what Lu Guangjun said true?"
As his words fell.
The three people displayed different reactions.
Sitting in her chair, Liu Jingqi wore an angry expression. Her hands were tightly clenched as she glared at Xu De, her eyes dark, grinding her teeth.
Her parents, Liu Hao and Cai Fei...
The two of them had somewhat ferocious expressions. Being called out by name at this moment, they blurted out, "Fake!"
"It's all fake!"
"I didn't make that call! I never called Lu Guangjun!"
Cai Fei's voice was extremely shrill, piercing eardrums until they ached.
She had absolutely never expected that a random phone call she made on the 2nd would actually be recorded...
But it was fine, Xu De didn't record her!
Liu Hao said, "Judge, that is fake evidence!"
"They deliberately made Lu Guangjun play along with this act. We never called him! He purposely set it up!"
As his words fell.
Beside them, Zhang Wei and Sun Bing suddenly sighed.
There was no escaping this...
Phone records couldn't be deleted, and Cai Fei's voice had been clearly recorded. The court could analyze the audio to determine if the voice belonged to Cai Fei.
Of course, stalling the current trial and bluffing their way through the questioning wouldn't be a problem.
But... someone didn't want to let this opportunity slip by.
Suddenly.
A voice rang out from the prosecutor's table.
"Defendant's family member Cai Fei, did you bring your mobile phone into the courtroom?"
Huang Shi stared intently at Cai Fei and pressed the question.
Cai Fei's expression changed. She naturally knew the other party wanted to conduct a cross-examination right there in court and look at the call logs.
"On the 2nd, I lent my phone to someone else. I don't know if there are any records..."
Huang Shi spoke up, not giving her a single chance to breathe, "Who did you lend it to?"
"What is their phone number? The court can contact the borrower right now!"
This...
Sounded so familiar.
Zhang Wei's face darkened. He felt that these words were somewhat similar to when Xu De had told Liu Jingqi and Lu Guangjun to take a pen and write down the amount.
'Damn it!'
This Huang Shi wasn't angry at all... The other party launched a surprise evidence ambush and clearly used him as a weapon...
He cursed violently in his heart.
Of course, while cursing, his mind was also anxiously calculating.
Looking at it right now...
The moment Xu De pulled out the evidence for cross-examination, the direction of the case was basically set in stone.
What? You say what if they could fight for it to be rejected?
Useless!
You have to know, judges aren't cold machines; they are human, living, breathing humans!
Evidence from a surprise ambush, even if it lacked legality, leading to it being formally rejected and dismissed...
Would only disappear on the surface!
It would still exist in the judge's heart.
The judge is perfectly aware; they can tell whether a piece of non-compliant evidence is real or not.
So, they might dismiss the evidence... but during the sentencing, even if they don't explicitly state the basis, they will still sentence you based on that evidence in their heart!
In other words, it interferes with the judge's discretionary sentencing power!
That's right.
The reason why Zhang Wei was so anxious, and had even reached the level of a mental breakdown just now, was purely because regardless of whether this evidence was true, and even if the evidence was struck down for non-compliance...
The judge would completely shift from a cautious, hesitant neutrality and lean towards Xu De's side!
'This move is simply vicious...'
'Vicious!!!'
Zhang Wei cursed in his heart once again.
There wasn't even a need to cross-examine it; just pulling it out increased the win rate... calling this kind of behavior animalistic wouldn't be an exaggeration.
However, right now wasn't the time to curse people...
At the defense table.
Ace lawyer Sun Bing took a deep breath, leaned over, and whispered in his ear, "The trial is still ongoing!"
Zhang Wei took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
That's right, the trial was still ongoing. Fixating on the evidence just now was clearly a mistake.
Since the situation couldn't be salvaged, then...
'Abandon the fight for legitimate self-defense.'
Zhang Wei swiftly made a decision in his mind.
'Use the defendant's inherent advantage to fight for a reduced sentence with full force!'
Liu Jingqi had a massive advantage.
That was an advantage known as a legal red line. Let alone ironclad evidence, even steel evidence or golden evidence couldn't pry open even the slightest crack in it.
If they severed the tail to survive...
Revolving around this sure-win advantage.
They might not necessarily lose the case!
Thinking of this, Zhang Wei and Sun Bing's expressions changed, immediately getting into the zone. Zhang Wei promptly faced Huang Shi and preemptively said, "Prosecution, the matters regarding the 2nd are too far in the past. My client is quite old, her memory is weak, and she has forgotten."
"You are forcing the issue!"
Having finished speaking.
Zhang Wei looked at Presiding Judge Zhang Bingxin and continued, "Presiding Judge."
"The defendant, Liu Jingqi, is 16 years and 11 and a half months old. She is under 18 years of age!"
"According to Article 113 of the Law on the Protection of Minors, Article 17 of the Criminal Law, and Article 78 of the Criminal Law..."
"My side..."
Zhang Wei paused, his tone low, as he stated, "Requests lenient, mitigated, and reduced processing!!!"