Chapter 120: Questioning in Open Court!

In Wang Mingxuan’s case.

The application for retrial was submitted to the Shadu Higher Court.

Su Bai very quickly submitted the relevant materials regarding the problems in the first instance judgment in Wang Mingxuan’s case.

Because this case.

Was itself controversial.

And furthermore, the case itself contained many problems.

Therefore, after Su Bai submitted the relevant materials and evidence to apply for retrial.

The Shadu Higher Court very quickly made a response, accepted and heard this case.

Wang Mingxuan’s application for the second instance hearing request was approved.

After the second instance was approved, the court side also very quickly issued summonses to all parties.

Su Bai also conducted a certain degree of summarization and understanding of this case.

The reason Wang Mingxuan was sentenced so heavily.

Was that the conviction given in the first instance was:

The crime of negligent homicide.

And furthermore.

It had produced a huge social impact.

Failing to foresee the woman’s behavior constituted a certain subjective negligence.

Thus it was determined: gross negligence, maximum punishment.

Tsk.

Is this not nonsense.

In the absence of strong evidence and absolute legal interpretation, how could one determine, on the basis of the subjective factors of the adjudicatory members and the prosecution, that Lin Xiu had a psychology of panic?

Moreover.

Wang Mingxuan’s foresight.

What exactly did he foresee? Was it Lin Xiu’s panic or Lin Xiu’s dangerous behavior?

Is there any connection between these two?

These two matters do not have a complete causal relationship in criminal law!

Therefore, under such circumstances, this kind of sentence was completely unreasonable.

Su Bai speculated that the presiding judge in the first instance might have been a woman.

Starting from a woman’s perspective, she determined this case.

Which caused Wang Mingxuan to receive the maximum punishment and be directly sentenced to seven years of fixed term imprisonment.

Rather than considering this case from the perspective of evidence and rationality.

When Su Bai went to examine the members of the first instance collegial panel.

Three female adjudicators.

Alright, it indeed was a female presiding judge.

Rubbing his temples.

Su Bai let out a long breath, and now it was enough just to wait for the second instance hearing.

Wait a moment.

The second instance hearing.

Su Bai came back to his senses and glanced at the adjudicatory personnel, fortunately, the presiding judge was a man.

As long as it was not the presiding judge making a determination subjectively.

Then this case would not have any particularly major problem.

On the eve of the hearing.

Su Bai once again asked Xia Xue about Lin Xiu’s parents demanding one million in settlement fees.

It was carried out under court mediation.

It did not constitute extortion.

Although they asked for a lot, in actual nature it was similar to Guo Xiaojun’s case.

In this case, there was only one entrustment, and that was to confront the prosecution’s accusation.

Time passed quickly, and it soon arrived at the time for the Higher Court hearing.

Inside the waiting room.

Su Bai and Li Xuezhen were waiting in the waiting room for the hearing.

In less than ten minutes.

A staff member entered the waiting room and notified Su Bai and Li Xuezhen to enter the courtroom.

At the hearing.

After the clerk read out the courtroom discipline, and said: “All rise, please welcome the presiding judge and the adjudicators into the court.”

Shua shua shua.

Everyone stood up.

Su Bai slightly raised his head and looked toward the presiding judge’s bench, adjudicator: Feng Qian, presiding judge: Jiang Hetao, adjudicator: Zhang Yingying.

After the presiding judge stood at the bench.

Bang bang bang.

He struck the gavel.

“Please be seated.”

Next came the stage of identity verification.

On the accusation side there were only Su Bai and Li Xuezhen.

While on the prosecution side there were two female public prosecutors, respectively Xu Qing and Lu Hongmei.

Among them, Lu Hongmei spoke as the lead public prosecutor.

Su Bai remembered that during the first instance, Lu Hongmei, as the public prosecutor, had been extremely aggressive in her accusations against Wang Mingxuan during the hearing.

There was even a feeling that she wanted Wang Mingxuan to be sentenced to death.

He did not know why Lu Hongmei’s hostility toward men was so great.

Perhaps it was a subjective factor from marriage?

Su Bai shook his head. The hearing had already begun, so he did not continue thinking about it.

After Lu Hongmei noticed Su Bai’s gaze, her eyes swept over him coldly.

Li Xuezhen spoke in a low voice: “Lawyer Su, that Lawyer Lu’s gaze is so fierce.”

Su Bai smiled: “Do not mind her, in a little while she will not be able to be fierce anymore.”

“Oh.”

“Alright Lawyer Su.”

Li Xuezhen nodded with a serious little face, and then fixed her gaze on Lu Hongmei.

Lu Hongmei: ???

Bang bang bang!

The verification of identity information was completed.

Presiding Judge Jiang Hetao struck the gavel.

“The verification of the parties’ identity information has been completed.”

Bang!

“This case is being heard by the Shadu Higher Court, and the members of the collegial panel are: adjudicator Feng Qian, presiding judge Jiang Hetao, adjudicator Zhang Yingying.”

“The following is the cause of action in this case.”

“In this case, the litigation side believes that the first instance judgment was unreasonable, and has raised a second instance appeal, making a not guilty defense. Is the cause of action true?”

“Presiding Judge, the cause of action is true.”

Bang bang bang!

Jiang Hetao struck the gavel and continued speaking:

“The cause of action is true. Next, please have the litigation side state the litigation request and the factual or legal basis as a supplement to the hearing.”

“Alright, Presiding Judge.”

Su Bai nodded, briefly arranged the hearing materials in front of him, and slowly spoke:

“Presiding Judge.”

“Our litigation requests are as follows:”

“First: we believe that the first instance judgment sentencing our side to seven years of fixed term imprisonment is unreasonable. This judgment completely violates the legally protected right of equality for all persons and infringes upon our lawful rights and interests. We do not accept the first instance judgment and request that the second instance revoke the first instance judgment.”

Hiss.

As soon as Su Bai’s first sentence came out, the courtroom fell silent for several seconds.

It was not that there was any problem with your applying to revoke the first instance judgment.

Nor was there any problem with applying for a not guilty ruling.

But what exactly did you mean by what you said afterward.

Completely violated the legally protected right of equality for all persons?

That statement was a bit too large.

Even if you had previously sent an adjudicator inside.

You still could not say this sort of thing openly in court, could you?

Jiang Hetao on the bench slightly furrowed his brows and did not speak.

Su Bai noticed the change in the hearing, but he was not too concerned. Since he said this, he naturally had his own plan.

This was merely to lay the groundwork for what came later.

The presiding judge had not called a halt.

Then that meant that saying this was not too much of a problem.

Su Bai continued speaking: “Presiding Judge, our statement of litigation request is complete.”

To put it plainly, in this case.

There was only one entrustment.

That was to make a not guilty defense.

At hearings, the law generally tends to favor the deceased’s side.

This was also the difficulty of making a not guilty defense.

But in reality, if one truly spoke in accordance with legal rigor, Wang Mingxuan had only humanitarian compensation.

Even compensation in the legal sense could be applied to be determined not to exist.

Moreover.

This humanitarian compensation still primarily depended on Wang Mingxuan’s personal willingness.

Bang bang bang!

After Su Bai finished his statement.

Jiang Hetao struck the gavel and looked toward the prosecution bench: “Now please have the prosecution make its statement and litigation request.”

Lu Hongmei glanced in Su Bai’s direction, then spoke in a calm voice:

“Presiding Judge, we request that the litigation side’s request be dismissed.”

“We believe that in this case, Wang Mingxuan committed obvious fault.”

“Judging from the overall course of the case.”

“During the process of transporting goods, Wang Mingxuan deviated from the route, and when he foresaw that the victim Lin Xiu had jumping from the car behavior, he failed to stop it in a timely manner.”

“This has already clearly constituted a negligent crime.”

“We believe that the determination in the first instance was reasonable.”

After hearing Lu Hongmei’s statement, Su Bai: ?????

No, what exactly did you mean by that?
Do you know what you are saying?
What do you mean when you say that he foresaw the victim Lin Xiu’s act of jumping from the car? Was this foresight your own fantasy?
What is the most important thing in a hearing?

Evidence!
Evidence!
Still evidence!

If you do not present evidence, are you just talking nonsense from across the room?
Foresight out of thin air?

Su Bai raised his hand: “May I ask whether the prosecution can produce evidence showing that with respect to Lin Xiu’s act of jumping from the car, our client Wang Mingxuan had obvious foresight? Or, to put it another way, on what basis does the prosecution determine that our client committed the crime of negligent homicide?”

After finishing his statement.

Su Bai looked toward the prosecution bench.

When Lu Hongmei heard Su Bai’s question, she answered without thinking:

“According to Article 233 of the Criminal Law:”

“Whoever negligently causes another person’s death shall be sentenced to fixed term imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than seven years. Where the circumstances are relatively minor, the sentence shall be fixed term imprisonment of not more than three years.”

Su Bai: ?????

This was the answer from the lawyer in the first instance?

If this was what the public prosecutor in the first instance said, then he really had to suspect whether there had been some problem with the first instance judgment and whether supervisory review procedures should be initiated.

“Please have the prosecution directly answer the question raised by our side.”

“On what point does the prosecution determine that our side committed the crime of negligent homicide?”

“In law, the clear definition of negligent crime is that negligent homicide refers to causing death through careless negligence and causing death through overconfident negligence.”

“The former refers to a situation where the actor should have foreseen that his conduct might cause the result of another person’s death, but because of his own carelessness failed to foresee it, thereby causing another person’s death.”

“The latter refers to a situation where the actor has already foreseen that his conduct might cause the result of another person’s death.”

“But because he blindly believed that he could avoid it and thereby caused another person’s death, it is likewise classified as negligent homicide.”

“But if the actor subjectively has no negligence, and another person’s death is caused by other unforeseeable reasons, then it belongs to an accidental incident, and the actor bears no legal responsibility.”

“The above.”

“Is the interpretive explanation of the legal application of Article 233 of the Criminal Law on negligent homicide.”

“I would like to ask the prosecution, on which point are you making the determination that our client negligently caused death?”

Su Bai directly laid his cards on the table.

He was no longer going to continue wasting words with the prosecution.

Since the other side kept evading the question and hiding its little schemes, he would directly lay his cards on the table to save trouble or prevent some other situation from arising.

After hearing Su Bai’s statement, the corners of Lu Hongmei’s mouth slightly rose.

Clearly.

She had intentionally let Su Bai say these words just now.

Su Bai saw this, but he was not particularly concerned.

A hearing.

Depends on hard power. Only when one has hard power as the premise can other little schemes be useful.

If you do not have hard power.

Everything else is useless.

Lu Hongmei spoke sternly: “According to the constituent conditions of the crime of negligent homicide that were just stated by the lawyer for the litigation side.”

“The key point lies in whether Wang Mingxuan constituted the possibility of foresight or foreknowledge.”

“Here, I would like to ask the party several questions.”

“First, before you were driving, according to your statement, did you have any conflict with Lin Xiu?”

“Second, before you changed the navigation route, did you clearly inform Lin Xiu in advance? Or, can you be certain that Lin Xiu knew about it?”

“Third, did you see Lin Xiu extend her body out of the car window? What was your first reaction when you saw Lin Xiu extend her body out of the car window? Was it that you believed she would not jump from the car?”

“Please have the party answer these three points above.”

Su Bai slightly frowned.

He raised his hand to indicate.

“Presiding Judge, our side believes that these three questions raised by the prosecution do not conform to hearing procedure!”

“The third question, when the prosecuting lawyer asked it, was clearly leading!”

Lu Hongmei: “How was my question leading?!”

“I would like to ask the prosecution, why are you asking whether our side believed Lin Xiu would or would not jump from the car? This concept of jumping from the car, if this is not leading, then what is it?!”

“What is the purpose of your asking our side this question?!”

“No matter whether our side answers yes or no, is the prosecuting lawyer not going to seize on this point to accuse our side’s subjective intent?”

“Presiding Judge, the prosecuting lawyer has raised this kind of question that does not conform to procedure, and I apply for the prosecuting lawyer’s recusal!”

Recusal!

To put it plainly, this meant directly asking that she be removed from the hearing.

When Lu Hongmei heard Su Bai’s words, she was directly stunned. He was directly applying to have her recused?

“Presiding Judge, my questions were only based on normal questioning and were not leading. I request that the court reject the litigation side lawyer’s application, and the litigation side lawyer’s interruption of my questioning is clearly interfering with hearing procedure. I apply for the litigation side lawyer’s recusal.”

Su Bai: ???

Directly turning the tables on me, is that it?
666…
I clearly interrupted reasonably, and you still want me to be recused.

Just watch how the presiding judge strikes the gavel and that will settle it.

On the bench, at the seat of the presiding judge.

After hearing the statements of both sides each insisting on its own view, Jiang Haitao struck the gavel, bang bang bang.

He looked at the other two adjudicators of the collegial panel, then spoke:

“The prosecuting lawyer’s questions violated the rules of courtroom examination. The third question of the prosecuting lawyer, namely whether it was believed that Lin Xiu would or would not jump from the car, is hereby rejected.”

“At the same time, the prosecution’s request is rejected!”

Bang bang bang!

“The hearing will continue.”

This rejection amounted to an indirect determination that Lu Hongmei’s questioning was in violation of the rules.

After hearing the presiding judge’s words, Lu Hongmei glanced in Su Bai’s direction.

It was unknown what she was thinking.

Then she looked toward the party’s bench.

“Please have the party answer the questions I raised above.”

Wang Mingxuan was afraid that he might answer incorrectly, so he cautiously glanced in Su Bai’s direction.

Su Bai signaled with his eyes that he should simply say it as it was.

Wang Mingxuan took a deep breath and looked toward the presiding judge’s bench.

Then slowly spoke:

“I did previously have a conflict with that Lin Xiu, but it was before getting into the car. After getting into the car, the situation was normal, and there was no quarrel at all.”

“As for changing the route, I actually did mention it to Lin Xiu, and when she asked me midway, I also told her.”

“It was only that perhaps my tone was not very good… what I meant roughly was that changing the route could avoid cameras, because in some places in Shadu, trucks are not allowed to pass, and points would be deducted.”

“Regarding the third question…”

“I indeed saw Lin Xiu lean her body out of the car window…”

“My thoughts at that time did not consider much, I only felt that it was dangerous…”

“Then I released the accelerator, turned on the hazard lights, and prepared to reduce the vehicle speed.”

“I have finished speaking…”

Wang Mingxuan slowly spoke and answered all the questions raised by Lu Hongmei.

At this time Lu Hongmei continued to press with questions.

“You and Lin Xiu had already had a quarrel before getting into the vehicle…”

“You again changed the route, did not clearly state the reason for changing the route, and your tone was not very good.”

“At this time, Lin Xiu extended her body out of the car window, when you stepped on the brake, was it not that you had already foreseen that Lin Xiu had the intention of jumping from the car?”

“If not, then why did you step on the brake?”

“A normal person’s normal reaction should not be to stop the other party from extending her body out of the car window?”

“At the same time.”

“You said that before getting into the vehicle you had already had a quarrel with Lin Xiu, then while in the vehicle Lin Xiu would naturally have had emotions of panic.”

“Her subjective emotion was worry, especially for a woman, relatively speaking, being together in a vehicle with a strange man, a young woman sitting in the vehicle would produce relatively strong emotions of panic.”

“This point, you should have foreseen…”

“But!”

“When her body extended out of the car window, why did you not carry out obstruction at the first moment?”

“This…”

Wang Mingxuan did not know how to answer.

After Su Bai heard Lu Hongmei’s questions, his brows were tightly furrowed.

Was this asking questions?

Was this not setting a trap for the party?

What does it mean that when she first extended her body out of the car window there was no obstruction?

If there was no obstruction, was that not because it had not been foreseen?

And also!

What does it mean that it should have been foreseen?

Should, approximately, possibly, and so on…

These words express some imprecise matters.

What is emphasized in a hearing is evidence!

Evidence evidence evidence!

Important matters must be said three times.

This Lu Hongmei clearly wanted to make use of set phrasing to cause Wang Mingxuan to fall into a trap.

Su Bai raised his hand and directly interrupted Lu Hongmei’s questioning.

“As Wang Mingxuan’s representative, I would like to ask the prosecuting lawyer one question.”

“I would like to ask whether the prosecuting lawyer, having used such words as approximately possibly should, can produce sufficient evidence for these questions?”

“Does your suspicion possess rationality?”

“If what is used in the hearing are vague subjective concepts such as what you think and what I think, and such approximate possibly should concepts, then I believe that our side is not guilty, is there any problem with that?”

“Presiding Judge…”

“What the law emphasizes is evidence, and without evidence relying only on suspicion, this completely does not conform to procedure.”

“I apply to terminate the prosecution from continuing to question our party Wang Mingxuan!”

Bang bang bang!

Presiding Judge Jiang Hetao struck the gavel and looked toward the prosecution bench.

“The application is approved! The prosecuting lawyer may no longer question the party Wang Mingxuan!”

Lu Hongmei: ???

No, I have not yet finished asking!

It was interrupted and prohibited just like this?