Chapter 129: Confrontation in Court

All three parties to the court hearing had made their respective psychological preparations.

At the same time.

This court hearing also constituted a kind of pressure for the members of the collegial panel themselves.

However fortunately, because this court hearing involved matters concerning the reversal of a case, as well as major criminal responsibility issues.

The members of the collegial panel of the Jiangdu Higher People’s Court were presided over by the Vice President of the Jiangdu Higher People’s Court serving as the presiding judge.

A Vice President at this level serving as the presiding judge.

Already belonged to a high level configuration for the court hearing.

Sufficient to indicate the degree of importance attached to this case.

And from the perspective of the administrative level of the Vice President of the Jiangdu Higher People’s Court, no major other circumstances would occur.

This was also one of the factors considered by the Jiangdu Higher People’s Court in arranging for the Vice President to serve as the presiding judge.

Time quickly arrived at approximately 9:40.

Relevant staff members walked into the waiting room.

“Hello, the court hearing is about to begin, please follow me.”

“Okay.”

Su Bai nodded and followed the staff member into the courtroom, and Li Xuezhen followed Su Bai with quick steps.

All parties entered the court.

Approaching ten o’clock.

Accompanied by the court clerk announcing the court discipline.

“One: …”

“Two: …”

“Three: …”

“Four: …”

“…”

After the court discipline was read, one sentence followed: “All rise!”

“Please the presiding judge and judges enter the court.”

Shua shua shua, all personnel stood up.

Court clerk: “Presiding judge, all personnel are present, the court discipline has been read, the conditions for opening the court are satisfied.”

“Okay.”

Bang bang!

At the presiding judge’s seat, the presiding judge struck the gavel!

“All please be seated.”

“Court is now in session!”

After striking the gavel, Presiding Judge Wang Jianjun sat down.

The two judges beside him, Zhou Yun and Zhu Chaoyang, also sat down accordingly.

Shua shua shua.

After Presiding Judge Wang Jianjun finished speaking, the other people in the courtroom also successively sat down in their respective positions.

Su Bai slightly raised his head.

He looked toward the presiding judge’s seat.

This time the composition of the collegial panel members was strong, one Vice President and two members of the Judicial Committee.

In ordinary cases, generally having a division chief or deputy division chief serve as the presiding judge would already be considered very attentive.

It could be seen.

That the Jiangdu Higher People’s Court attached great importance to this case.

And with the Vice President of the Jiangdu Higher People’s Court serving as the presiding judge, in terms of the composition at the court hearing, almost no other circumstances would occur.

Situations such as the previous case of Chu Lei would not occur again.

Retracting his gaze.

On the trial platform.

Presiding Judge Wang Jianjun slowly spoke:

“The court is now in session, next the identities of the parties will be verified, please each party state the identities of the personnel appearing in court.”

“Please the litigation party state the identities of the personnel appearing in court on your side.”

Su Bai: “Okay, Presiding Judge.”

During the stage in which Su Bai stated information at the court hearing.

Outside the court.

Because the hearing was publicly tried and broadcast live.

In Luo Daxiang’s livestream room, old fans upon seeing Su Bai on the hearing scene reporting the identities of the litigation party excitedly sent barrage comments.

Teacher Luo, this hearing is again Lawyer Su? Damn, exciting!! Produced by Lawyer Su, must be a fine product, this time who is Lawyer Su preparing to send in again?

Hahaha, stereotyped impression, sending people in, consistent with Lawyer Su’s image!

When newcomers are still asking who the lawyer at this hearing is, old fans are already looking forward to what will happen in this hearing afterwards!

Excellent! Being able to say such words upstairs obviously means you have watched many hearings of Lawyer Su… hahaha!

+1 +1, every time watching Lawyer Su litigate, especially live broadcast hearings the most anticipated segment is seeing who gets sent in… and also confronting judges and other lawyers in court!

Yes yes yes…

“Alright alright, everyone stop talking first, I think the most critical thing is not anything else, it is letting Teacher Luo first explain the specific situation of this hearing to us, we have not yet clarified the specific situation of the hearing, do not draw conclusions rashly.”

Yes yes yes, this is the most important, Teacher Luo explain the specific situation.

Luo Daxiang smiled and glanced at the content in the comment section and spoke:

“Mm!”

“According to convention, we will first talk about the specific situation of this hearing.”

“This hearing is an old case.”

“Simply speaking it is that an old case is being retried again… helping a criminal suspect with grievances clear the charges on his body and carry out reversal of the case.”

“…”

Very quickly, Luo Daxiang made a general statement of the situation he understood regarding this case.

After the statement was completed.

Quite a few barrage comments appeared in the comment section.

“No, regarding this case, I feel there is a problem, how could an eighteen year old person do such an impulsive thing and moreover kill someone? Such courage…?”

“Who knows, young people having courage is normal, but the key point is that Lin Haoxue did not confess in prison and denied it in court and his confession was inconsistent, I think this point is the most interesting.”

“Could it be a major wrongful case??”

“Hahaha, everyone do not think wildly, watch the hearing, the hearing is the most direct and clear!”

Luo Daxiang looked at the content in the comment section and slightly nodded:

“Yes… the hearing is the most direct and clear, everyone just understand the content from the hearing.”

“Alright, let us continue watching.”

In addition.

In Jiangdu, inside a certain residential community.

Hu Yulong was also nervously watching the live broadcast content of the hearing.

If this case were reversed.

It would have no small impact on him.

Therefore when he first learned that the Higher People’s Court would conduct a retrial, he appeared so nervous.

Because he clearly knew what exactly this case was about.

“Ai——”

Hu Yulong rubbed his brow, took a deep breath, and fixed his gaze tightly on the live broadcast of the hearing.

Fearing that some other problem would appear.

In the courtroom.

Identity information verification was completed.

Presiding Judge Wang Jianjun continued speaking:

“The identity information verification is completed.”

“This hearing is composed of Presiding Judge Wang Jianjun, Judge Zhou Yun, and Judge Zhu Chaoyang forming the collegial panel, do all parties have objections, or apply for recusal?”

Su Bai: “No objection, no application for recusal.”

Yan Xiangshang: “No objection, no application for recusal.”

Kong Jiantu: “No objection, no application for recusal.”

Bang bang!

Wang Jianjun continued speaking: “All parties have no objections and no applications for recusal.”

“Now the cause of action is announced:”

“In this case the appellant is Lin Haoxue, the grounds for appeal: believing that the first instance judgment was erroneous, requesting a new judgment, believing that there are problems with the factual basis, believing that the evidence provided by the law enforcement side is erroneous, and applying for accountability.”

“Is the cause of action true…?”

Su Bai spoke: “It is true.”

Bang bang bang!

“The cause of action is true, now please the litigation party state the litigation requests.”

“The litigation party’s agent lawyer, now you may begin stating your litigation requests and factual basis.”

“Okay Presiding Judge.”

“Presiding Judge, before stating, I would like first to make a general description of the case and apply to state it.”

Bang bang!

“It is permitted, however you may not make descriptions that are not objective and not based on facts, if there are untrue statements the trial bench has the right to interrupt your statement and reject your litigation application.”

“Do you understand this?”

“Okay Presiding Judge, I understand.”

After the application was approved, Su Bai took a deep breath and described the general process of the case.

“The general process of the case.”

“Six years ago, our party Lin Haoxue, after leaving home and going out with classmates to play, at approximately 9:20 in the evening on the way home passed through an alley and discovered a female corpse.”

“No surveillance, no cameras.”

After reporting the case, through investigation and screening the police identified our party Lin Haoxue as a criminal suspect.

“The evidence for identification included the following points:”

“First, at that time the corpse was in the corner of the alley, visits and investigations found that several people passed by but no one discovered the corpse, yet it happened to be discovered by Lin Haoxue, and this was considered a suspicious point.”

“Second, Lin Haoxue had injuries on his body that day, and they were scratches, and these injuries were identified as being caused by the victim’s resistance.”

“Third, Lin Haoxue’s confession contained suspicious points, during repeated questioning the confession could not maintain consistent statements, and based on this it was identified that Lin Haoxue’s confession had certain problems.”

“Fourth…”

“…”

Regarding the accusations against Lin Haoxue at that time and the process of the incident, Su Bai slowly spoke and listed them one by one.

These were all doubtful points found from the first instance case file and the first instance judgment.

There did not exist false circumstances.

Immediately afterwards, after Su Bai finished stating, he again spoke:

“Presiding Judge, according to the determinations and judgment of the first instance regarding our side, in the second instance we submit the following litigation applications.”

“First: we believe that in the first instance judgment there lacked a large amount of strong evidence to determine Lin Haoxue, there was no strong evidence of crime, and the first instance judgment did not conform to the provisions for judgment.”

“Therefore… we apply to revoke the first instance judgment and adjudge Lin Haoxue not guilty.”

“Second: in a large amount of evidence we observed that some evidence provided by the law enforcement side had relatively large discrepancies from the facts and lacked strong factual basis and the subjective determination aspect was relatively strong, we believe that the law enforcement side had certain faults and needs to compensate our side.”

“Third: because our side was wrongly judged and as a result was detained for six years and missed his own life, our side requests the first instance court to compensate our side for the wrongful judgment in the total amount of three million seven hundred twenty six thousand eight hundred ninety five yuan and seven jiao and eight fen.”

“Fourth…”

The remaining points were litigation applications requesting compensation and a public apology and restoration of reputation.

After finishing the statement.

Su Bai slightly raised his head and looked toward the trial bench.

At the presiding judge’s seat, Wang Jianjun slightly frowned.

Previously he had already understood the general process of this case.

He also understood that this case was a difficult case because it involved various other aspects.

Therefore the court had arranged for him as Vice President to serve as the presiding judge to handle this case.

Now from the current situation.

Su Bai had raised so many litigation conditions.

If ordinary court staff were to preside over the trial, they really might not necessarily dare to directly adjudicate.

After listening to Su Bai’s statement, Wang Jianjun placed the materials he had prepared in advance in front of himself.

Immediately afterwards.

He struck the gavel.

Bang bang bang!

“The litigation party has finished stating.”

“Now please the public prosecutor and the lawyer for the accused side make statements.”

“Now please the public prosecutor begin the litigation statement.”

Facing the inquiry of the presiding judge, Kong Jiantu understood that regarding this case he was not suitable to say much.

After all it was a case from six years ago and he had not participated in it and whether there were problems in it had no relation to him.

He only needed to maintain a neutral attitude during the court hearing.

Kong Jiantu arranged the case materials and spoke:

“The public prosecution side determines that this case indeed has suspicious points, but whether to revoke the first instance judgment needs to rely on evidence and facts.”

“The litigation party statement is finished.”

Bang bang!

“Next please the lawyer agent of the accused side make a statement.”

Yan Xiangshang took a deep breath and regarding how this case would be judged he also had no certainty in his heart.

But one point could be certain:

This case absolutely could not allow the problem to be directed toward them saying that the evidence they provided had problems.

If the determination of this issue were placed on them then the problem would be serious.

Yan Xiangshang glanced at Su Bai at the litigation party’s seat and slowly spoke:

“I believe that the accusations of the litigation party against our side seriously do not conform to the actual situation.”

“The litigation party determines that our side had negligence and had fault, regarding this point our side does not agree.”

“Our side applies for rejection of the accusations of the litigation party against our side and requests that the litigation party’s accusations against our side seriously infringed our side’s image and that the litigation party make an apology to our side in court.”

Really quite forceful!

At this stage already under such circumstances and still saying that it seriously affected your side’s image and requesting an apology to your side in court?

No…

If I did not grasp evidence or certain factual basis would I dare to raise such litigation requests in court?

Certainly not!

But now you ask me to apologize?

Hiss…

Su Bai sized up Yan Xiangshang… being able to say such litigation requests was indeed impressive.

Thick skinned.

However…

At present the court hearing debate had not yet formally begun.

Such litigation requests raised by the other side were still within the normal range.

But!

When the debate begins later you try again and see whether your mouth is hard or my court evidence is hard!

The litigation application statements of the three parties were completed.

At the trial bench seat.

Wang Jianjun struck the gavel: “All parties have finished stating, now begin to present factual basis and debate.”

“Litigation party, your side applies for not guilty, now please state the reasons for your side’s not guilty.”

“Okay Presiding Judge.”

Su Bai slightly nodded and then spoke.

“The reasons our side determines not guilty are: insufficient evidence, unable to meet the requirements for determining the crime of our party Lin Haoxue.”

“Regarding the basis of the first instance judgment and the entire matters of the incident our side has already made statements and will not continue to state.”

“The above.”

“The process of the incident and the evidence and factual basis provided by the law enforcement side cannot determine that our side is guilty.”

“For example: the condition for the law enforcement side determining our side as a criminal suspect was:”

“Our side passed through that alley and among them many people also passed through but why only our side discovered the female corpse… and based on this determined our side as a criminal suspect.”

“Regarding this point our side does not agree.”

“First this method does not conform to legal basis, the legal basis for accusing a suspect refers to accusing based on clues that have factual basis.”

“Using the above statement to accuse our side as a suspect is completely nonsense.”

“Our side discovered the female corpse and then what? Others discovering it may be because others did not pay attention, our side discovering it may be because our side’s habit while walking in ordinary times is relatively careful, without clues that have factual basis to prove it suspicion is reasonable but using this as an accusation relies on which domestic legal provision?”

“It does not conform to any laws or regulations!”

“In addition the accusation and prosecution charge raised in the first instance alleged that our party infringed the victim and cruelly killed her,”

“Regarding this point I express strong objection.”

“According to the description of the first instance judgment determining that our side had criminal facts was based on our side’s confession as well as including some lateral confessions of other persons for verification among which included some subjective judgments.”

“But there is no strong evidence to prove that our side infringed the victim and cruelly killed her.”

“Can the accused side produce strong evidence to prove that our side infringed the victim and cruelly killed her?”

“No!”

“Then on what basis was the case transferred to the procuratorate to initiate prosecution against our side?”

“According to Article 55 of the Criminal Procedure Law of our country: emphasis on evidence and light reliance on confession.”

“Especially in determinations regarding some major crimes.”

“For situations where there is no strong evidence to show that there are criminal facts then a judgment of not guilty should be rendered.”

“Furthermore!”

“The most important point is that our client’s confession was inconsistent, so why should a confession that was not confirmed be used as evidence in the court hearing?”

“Does this conform to the procedures and provisions governing court hearing judgments?”

“Presiding Judge, what our side has relied upon are all the omitted points in the first instance judgment, as well as the doubtful points in the case file, our side has finished stating.”

After finishing his statement, Su Bai quietly looked toward the trial bench.

In this court hearing.

Adjudging Lin Haoxue not guilty was a matter without any doubt.

However…

This case was a judgment rendered after trial six years ago, and there were many omitted points.

Su Bai needed to slowly bring these omitted points into view.

Facing Su Bai’s angry confrontation and questioning in court, Yan Xiangshang rubbed his brow.

He appeared exceptionally distressed.

As counsel for the accused side, his litigation objective was to prevent the other side from prevailing.

But judging from the current situation…

Whether he could handle it at all was another matter.

He let out a long sigh.

Realizing that he could only brace himself and proceed.

Yan Xiangshang looked at the materials before his seat, waiting for the presiding judge’s questions.