Chapter 572: The Furious Fang Dazhuang!

Zhou Yi naturally knows that a hierarchy of contempt exists in this society, but to be honest, the concept of regional discrimination is truly strange.

Actually, sometimes many native-born locals are quite friendly; conversely, those who went to great lengths to obtain a local household registration there turn around and start discriminating immediately...

This is what Fang Dazhuang said once while chatting after drinking too much; some of the people he encountered back then were just like that—once they got their household registration and started identifying as locals, not to mention anything else, they would start discriminating against outsiders in a heartbeat.

But honestly, for a Lawyer who has been working in Modu for a few years to come back and keep talking about "small places" while looking down on local Lawyers, that makes Zhou Yi feel a bit surreal.

He doesn't know who gave this Lawyer Tan the courage; whether Jingzhou is a small place is one thing, but has the legal circle there done few things in the past two years?

How many times have Case Analysis, how many times have Supreme People's Court guiding cases, and even the only large-scale Internet Violence Litigation, all happened in Jingzhou.

This feeling is like a student ranked last in a good school looking down on students from other schools; but after the college entrance exam, one finds that the strength lies in the whole, while the individual... is just so-so.

It is undeniable that the standard in Modu is certainly much higher than in Jingzhou, but is it really okay to speak in such a tone? There is a big shot sitting in the public gallery!

Most importantly, this big shot hasn't really "tasted meat" since the New Year, and he has been pent up to the point of being a bit perverted.

Thinking this to himself, Zhou Yi took out his phone and turned on the recording.

Although it is impossible to record everything the other party said, a few sentences will suffice.

Five minutes later, Zhou Mouren returned to his seat in the public gallery in a leisurely manner. Fang Dazhuang opened his eyes and said, "Why were you gone so long? The judge has already arrived."

Zhou Yi glanced over, and sure enough, that Judge Zhang was already sitting in the position of the Presiding Judge.

"I just went to the restroom and happened to hear that Lawyer Tan on the other side making a phone call. What he said was quite interesting, so I recorded it. Fang Dazhuang, do you want to listen?"

Zhou Xinran beside him immediately said with a look of disgust, "Someone was making a call in the restroom and you actually recorded it?"

After a pause, the next sentence was: "Hurry up and play it so I can hear how perverted it is!"

Zhou Yi curled his lips. Zhou Cainiao said this in a way that looked like she was watching a Liu Bei video—full of disgust, but she just wanted to criticize it, with no other meaning.

The recording was played at a low volume; it was very short, only a few sentences.

"There's really no need to worry too much about this small place. The Lawyers here aren't that skilled. I've worked in Modu for so long, what kind of famous big-name Lawyers haven't I seen..."

And then... Fang Dazhuang listened to those few sentences repeatedly about ten times.

A smile slowly appeared at the corners of his mouth, looking like a pervert.

Zhou Yi highly suspects that if it were still possible to change Lawyers at this moment, Fang Dazhuang would definitely take the case, and he would even do it for free!

He really "likes" taking care of those Lawyers with big mouths, like Zhou Cainiao back then.

Regardless of what Fang Dazhuang is thinking, the court trial has already begun, and this case has nothing to do with him.

It can be seen that Huo Pengfei is indeed very well-prepared, because no matter how simple a case is, once it involves a Criminal Case, there is always a possibility of overturning.

The evidence presentation and Cross-examination phase began, and Huo Pengfei presented the evidence one by one.

First is the procedural evidence required for this type of Private Prosecution Case, the evidence that the Public Security Bureau decided not to pursue criminal responsibility against the party involved; this is very important procedural evidence.

That is to say, if it involves a Minor Injury and has not reached the standard of Intentional Injury, if you want to file a Private Prosecution, you must have a written document from the Public Security Bureau or the Procuratorate stating that they will not pursue criminal responsibility against the other party.

Then comes the core of the evidence: the notarized video and the Monitoring from that time.

As well as the injury report issued by the relevant institution; all these pieces of evidence combined together can form a complete Evidence Chain to prove that the other party committed an act of Intentional Injury.

And in response to this evidence, Tan Shaohong quickly began the Cross-examination.

"In the video evidence, the duration of the conflict phase is very short, and the specific process of the injury is not clear. It can only prove that our client engaged in aggressive behavior, but the specific behavior that caused the other party's Minor Injury is not in the video. Therefore, this evidence has major flaws and cannot prove that the Minor Injury to the other party's abdomen was indeed caused by our client."

"In addition, the Monitoring video is relatively blurry... therefore, the aforementioned conclusion can also be drawn."

Tan Shaohong believes that the video filmed by Wu Qiuling herself has major flaws.

The reason is simple; after all, Wu Qiuling was holding the phone herself. The part where she stepped forward to persuade was filmed very clearly, but the key aggressive behavior that led to the Minor Injury was not directly captured later.

After all, she was just a physically weak girl; being attacked like that by an adult male, she couldn't hold back at all by the end.

Hearing this, Zhou Yi frowned and said, "Fang Dazhuang, will this kind of evidence flaw have an impact in a Private Prosecution Case?"

If it were a Civil Dispute, this would be enough, but in a Criminal Case, the probative value of video evidence only covers its intuitive performance part; that is to say, it cannot be inferred.

Because all Wu Qiuling captured were those few slaps, including being kicked to the ground.

The things that followed were not filmed very clearly.

Fang Dazhuang shook his head and said, "Old tactics. I stopped using this defense method ten years ago. As for whether it will be accepted, it's hard to say. By the way, does your Lawyer Huo think he's doing well lately, so he only prepared this little bit of evidence?"

"Does he think he can just win because the client filmed a video herself?"

Zhou Yi was stunned: "Do you mean that this case might be overturned?"

Fang Dazhuang did not answer directly, only saying: "If I were Huo Pengfei, I definitely wouldn't just use video and Monitoring as evidence."

After a pause, Fang Dazhuang added: "However, it's not that easy to convince the judge just by relying on evidence flaws. Now, I don't know how things will turn out either."

The evidence presentation and Cross-examination phase ended, and the Court Debate began.

Tan Shaohong quickly stated his argument: "According to the provisions of Article 234 of the Criminal Law, the key to constituting the crime of Intentional Injury is that the perpetrator must subjectively know that their behavior will cause injury results, and hope for or allow such results to occur."

"Combined with the facts of this case, our client does not constitute the crime of Intentional Injury for the following two reasons."

"First, our client did not know that doing so would lead to the result of a Minor Injury to the other party, and did not hope for or allow such a result to occur. According to the other party's Evidence 3 and Evidence 4 (video and Monitoring), the conflict process was extremely brief, lasting less than a minute, and it was already over; the time was very short."

"Second, in the other party's Evidence 2 (injury report), the Minor Injury occurred in the abdomen, but their Evidence 3 and Evidence 4 did not strictly prove that the injury was indeed caused by our client. Therefore, it can be known that it does not constitute the crime of Intentional Injury..."

"As for the intentional injury behavior, the Public Security Bureau has already carried out Administrative Detention!"

It is still that saying: the Court only speaks of evidence. It is not that because Judge Zhang heard the party admit to hitting someone during the previous Mediation, it will definitely be a win.

It is not that easy.

To give a simple example, in an intentional homicide case, if someone has read the forensic appraisal report, they will know that it must state what the fatal injury was.

Perhaps twenty stabs were made, but the final fatal injury was blunt force trauma to the head; all of this must be clearly identified.

The injury report clearly stated that the Minor Injury was caused by a heavy blow to the abdomen, but the fatal part is that the relevant evidence cannot directly prove it.

Using the Four Elements Theory to describe Lawyer Tan's words, there was no subjective intent to injure, and the illegal act implemented objectively did not reach the criminal standard.

And using the Two-Tier Theory, it means that in the objective tier, the harmful behavior did not produce a harmful result, so it never even reached the subjective tier.

Truly speaking, they are just two methods, but the latter is indeed more reliable for some special situations.

Huo Pengfei's complexion did not look good, or rather, ever since joining Tengda, things had been smooth sailing, and he had handled quite a few Criminal Private Prosecution cases, ranking among the best within Tengda; he had indeed become a bit conceited.

This is a not-so-obvious loophole in the evidence; it wouldn't count for much in a civil matter, but in a Criminal Private Prosecution Case, as long as there is one inconsistency, it's all over.

"Everything relies on evidence" means exactly this; don't say "everyone knows he was the one who hit," even if everyone knows, if your evidence is insufficient and you only have witness testimony, there is no way to prove it.

Huo Pengfei began to rebut, arguing that the Defendant was in a state of intoxication, and considering the reality of the situation, a girl simply could not withstand such a violent attack.

Hearing this, Lawyer Fang shook his head so hard it felt like it would snap off: "This Huo Pengfei needs to go back for some serious training; what is the point of saying something like that at a time like this!"

"Zhou Yi, your Legal Department cannot continue like this; you must put some pressure on them, otherwise, once they do a little bit well in Jingzhou, they start thinking other lawyers are nothing special. Arrogance is definitely something that must be avoided!"

Lawyer Fang was already uncomfortable after hearing what Tan Shaohong said earlier, and then, at this trial, Huo Pengfei was actually this embarrassing!

Zhou Yi didn't speak; Huo Pengfei was already the best in the Tengda Legal Department. Indeed, the legal staff at Tengda were not that strong, but right now, anyone with a slight understanding of the law could hear that Huo Pengfei was no longer in a strong position.

Sure enough, Tan Shaohong soon said: "There is no evidence for the Defense Attorney's claim that my client was in a state of intoxication at the time, and the relevant witness testimony also said 'it seemed like he was drunk,' so this shows that the people around at the time were also unclear."

The witness testimony was recorded by a witness Huo Pengfei had found later, but the other party said "seemed like"; Huo Pengfei had thought at the time that it was just supporting evidence anyway and that the video was enough, so he didn't press the issue.

But once in Court, two words can affect the probative value of evidence!

You must remember, in the future when finding witnesses, be clear; certain is certain, and uncertain means it doesn't exist. It's that simple; there is no such thing as "seemed like" anything.

Evidence like this is worse than having none at all.

Lawyer Fang didn't even want to watch anymore; this wasn't coming out to relax, this was clearly coming out to find frustration.

"I originally thought Huo Pengfei was pretty good, but look at this performance; key evidence is questioned, and then he completely loses his composure?"

"Look at him now, does he still have the mindset of a debater? In a debate, the first thing you must do is not get anxious!"

If not for the sake of Court order, Lawyer Fang would have already started berating him.

Zhou Yi and Zhou Xinran exchanged a look and also shook their heads with a bitter smile; indeed, Huo Pengfei was anxious now, speaking in a rush, sounding somewhat incoherent.

Beside Huo Pengfei, in the position of the Plaintiff, Wu Qiuling was also feeling a bit curious.

To be honest, this was the first time she had seen Huo Pengfei like this.

In her mind, Huo Pengfei had always been so calm and collected; whenever there was a problem at the Company and other legal staff couldn't handle it, asking Huo Pengfei always yielded a solution.

This was the first time she had seen Huo Pengfei in Court completely unable to fight back against the other side.

Finally, Judge Zhang couldn't watch anymore and spoke up: "Alright, this Court Debate is concluded; we will now begin the Final Statement. Does the Defendant have anything to add?"

"Please have the Judge dismiss the other party's Lawsuit."

"And the Plaintiff?"

Wu Qiuling looked at Huo Pengfei and said: "Please have the Judge support our Lawsuit."

It was finally over; Huo Pengfei sat down, not even daring to look at Wu Qiuling beside him.

He already had a premonition that this time, he was going to lose.

Judge Zhang announced a recess, and Tan Shaohong sat down, slowly and methodically packing his things, saying to Lu Yunling beside him as he packed: "See, I told you this case wasn't troublesome; there's no need to worry about small matters."

"Your wife even called me before we started, telling me I had to win. I told her, what do lawyers in these small places know? They just followed the trend and did a few cases, and now they don't even know who they are."

"There is still a Criminal-Incidental Civil Compensation to follow; we'll see about that, but you should pay what you need to pay."

The voice was a bit loud; Huo Pengfei heard it, and he raised his head to rebut, but quickly lowered it again.

How could he rebut in this situation? In all fairness, Huo Pengfei thought he should have been able to think of this.

But for some reason, he had felt beforehand that with the video, he would definitely win, and other evidence, like comparing the tread patterns on the soles of the shoes and the patterns on the clothes, felt too troublesome, so he didn't collect them.

And now...

Lawyer Fang sat there without a word, his expression very grim.

Twenty minutes passed, and Judge Zhang returned to continue the trial for the Criminal-Incidental Civil Compensation.

It must be explained here that when the criminal aspect of a Criminal-Incidental Civil Compensation case is determined to be not guilty, it does not mean the civil aspect must be filed as a separate case; that is not necessary.

According to Article 101 of the Supreme People's Court's "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Implementation of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China," if the People's Court determines that the act of the Defendant in a Public Prosecution Case does not constitute a crime, and no agreement can be reached through Mediation for the already filed Criminal-Incidental Civil Compensation, a Criminal-Incidental Civil Judgment shall be rendered together.

In practice, to prevent the Criminal Division from dragging things out, it is generally required to hold the trial together, meaning the criminal case is heard first, followed by the civil case.

There were no surprises here; even if Huo Pengfei's logic in speaking wasn't clear, he still had to pay what he had to pay.

Because the other party's intentional injury was indeed very clear, it could be directly inferred according to the rule of high probability.

Some might say, isn't this self-contradictory?

A judge says in one breath that the evidence is insufficient to determine a crime, and in the next, says the other party must pay.

But this is the reality of criminal and civil matters; never mind outsiders, even the judges themselves feel like they have split personalities...

Even if Tan Shaohong could talk all he wanted, it was useless; after the trial, Judge Zhang made an on-the-spot Judgment!

On the criminal side, the facts of the Private Prosecution were unclear and the evidence insufficient, so the request was dismissed; on the civil side, the Judgment ordered compensation of over 43,000.

Upon hearing the words "dismiss the Private Prosecution's request" in the verdict, Lu Yunling jumped up in excitement.

Anyone who encounters such a thing would feel like they had the worst luck in eight lifetimes.

Now that everything was fine, they had to celebrate properly.

Niu Xiufei, sitting in the gallery, stood up directly and shouted: "I knew it, how could this possibly be a crime!"

Judge Zhang banged the Gavel in dissatisfaction, which finally restored order to the Court.

Next was the procedure of collecting the Judgment.

The three of them, Zhou Yi, stood up and walked over to Huo Pengfei; old Huo's face was red, and his eyes were drifting.

Lawyer Fang said bluntly: "You call this a Court Debate? You call this practicing law? Dragging a dog in here would have done a better job than you. You really thought that just because you filmed a video you could win forever? What were you thinking!"

"Ahem..."

It was Zhou Xinran, who subconsciously coughed twice upon hearing the "dragging a dog" comment; she always felt like it was aimed at her.

Lawyer Fang didn't care about that and just kept venting to his heart's content!

If I had known you would flip the car this time, I would have just taken over myself!

"You win a few cases and start looking down on everyone in the world, right? You prepared this little bit and expected to win a Private Prosecution Case, right? What exactly were you thinking?"

As a result, perhaps it was Lawyer Fang's constant berating of Huo Pengfei that made Niu Xiufei unable to hold back, or perhaps Niu Xiufei just liked to show off, so he pretended not to know and said: "Hey cousin, what you said earlier was so right; look, these lawyers in small places really just don't cut it."

After speaking, he turned back to look, then hurriedly added, "Eh, sorry, sorry, I didn't mean it, but the way you all were before, it was as if my old Lu was about to go to jail. Now? See if you still want to!"

"Let me tell you, this cousin of mine used to be a Lawyer in Modu, working at those big firms in Modu; he's seen too many cases like this already, okay?"

Tan Shaohong had already packed his things and was about to leave. Hearing this, he walked over and smiled, "Xiufei, stop talking. You're engaging in regional discrimination. I've only handled a few cases in Modu."

"Let's go, I still have things to do. I only came today to help you two out of convenience, but this place, Jingzhou, is really not great; the standard is a bit low..."

As he was talking, he suddenly stopped.

Niu Xiufei felt a bit strange. He turned his head to look at Tan Shaohong and discovered that the other party was staring ahead with a blank expression.

"Brother? Brother, what's wrong? What did you see?" Niu Xiufei asked hurriedly.

Tan Shaohong's face turned pale: "Fang, Fang..."

Following the other party's line of sight, it was that middle-aged bald man who had just been cursing very fiercely.

"What exactly is wrong, Brother? Say something. We've already won the lawsuit. Didn't you say there is a Prohibition of Increasing Punishment for Appeals?"

Niu Xiufei looked at that middle-aged bald man again. Why did he feel that his cousin's eyes held a trace of fear?

Did I see wrong?

Beside him, Lu Yunling also asked curiously: "That's right, Brother, what's wrong with you? If there's something, say it quickly."

Tan Shaohong finally said it: "Teacher Fang? Is it Teacher Fang?"

"Many of the classic cases we studied at our firm were handled by you. I've watched many of your videos. Teacher Fang, why are you here?"

Fang Dazhuang looked at Tan Shaohong in front of him, shook his head, and said, "You've recognized the wrong person. I am a Lawyer from this small place called Jingzhou. My standard isn't great, and I've never been to Modu."

"Besides, my surname is Zhou, not Fang. Thank you."

In Niu Xiufei's eyes, Fang Dazhuang was just putting on an act.

She immediately couldn't help but shout: "What are you pretending for? What's wrong? Is it because the verdict isn't what you wanted that you want to do something? Go ahead and file an Appeal! Do you know what the Prohibition of Increasing Punishment is? My old Lu didn't commit a crime, so he didn't commit a crime. I haven't even sued you for slander yet!"

"And you, with that look from before, weren't you very capable during the Mediation? You turned and left, and even said something about seeing each other in court. My old Lu was already planning to pay the money, but you all just wouldn't agree. I really don't know what you're all pretending for. Now look, who was wrong after all!"

The latter part was said to Zhou Yi.

Lu Yunling also spoke up: "You can sue me all you want about the money; I don't have any money anyway."

Zhou Mouren wanted to retort upon hearing this, but Fang Dazhuang beside him had already spoken.

"So you're sure no crime was committed? Sure that we must distinguish who was wrong, right? Fine, I understand."

After speaking, Fang Dazhuang turned and left. Seeing that the few people behind him hadn't followed, he immediately said with dissatisfaction: "What are you still stunned for? Let's go! Do you want to stay here and continue to be mocked by them?"

Huo Pengfei hurriedly followed, hesitated for a moment, and said: "Teacher Fang, are we not going to Appeal?"

Wu Qiuling was also very strange; this didn't seem to be this Fang Dazhuang's style.

Beside her, Zhou Yi asked curiously: "Didn't you say there is a Prohibition of Increasing Punishment for Appeals? In this situation, is there a way if we Appeal?"

Beside Zhou Yi, Zhou Xinran said helplessly: "Stop talking. Haven't you noticed that Fang Dazhuang is very irritable right now? There is a sentence before the Prohibition of Increasing Punishment, but unfortunately, many people don't remember it and only look at the latter part. In our situation, if an Appeal is filed and there is new evidence, it is possible to change the verdict to guilty."

There is such a thing?

Of course it's true. That sentence is: an Appeal filed by the Defendant or their legal representative, Defense Attorney, or close relatives...

It's just that, because in most cases it is a Public Prosecution Case, and the Procuratorate feels there is a problem with the verdict, they file a Protest, which is the Trial Supervision Procedure, and naturally, that principle does not apply.

And in a Private Prosecution Case, an Appeal filed by the Plaintiff side also does not apply to the Prohibition of Increasing Punishment principle.

Zhou Yi nodded and was about to continue saying something when Fang Dazhuang spoke: "Appeal? Do you have new evidence? How are you going to collect new evidence? By what right would you collect it?"

"So many days have passed, what evidence can you still find?"

Huo Pengfei immediately stopped talking. An Appeal is certainly possible, and it can lead to an increased sentence, but without new evidence, the Second Instance would most likely reject the Appeal and uphold the original verdict.

Finally, Wu Qiuling spoke weakly: "Um... Teacher Fang, do you think we still have any way? Lawyer Huo, he... he also doesn't want to see this result."

Fang Dazhuang wanted to scold a few more words, but looking at Wu Qiuling, he held back. This girl has good luck; perhaps he might rely on her for something in the future.

Therefore, he said: "You all, don't you usually keep my words on your lips? Have you forgotten now? What did I say before?"

"If there is no way to collect evidence, then you have to find a way to transform a Civil Dispute into a Criminal Case. Similarly, if evidence cannot be collected in a Private Prosecution Case, find a way to turn it into a Public Prosecution. Isn't that enough?"

"If you have no way to find new evidence, do you think the Public Security Bureau also has no way to find it? Why are you all so thick-headed!"

"How did you read the Judicial Interpretation on the crime of Picking Quarrels and Provoking Trouble? Have you forgotten whether causing Minor Injury to two or more people constitutes a crime? That couple has already divorced, so it no longer counts as domestic violence, understand?"

A long chapter of over six thousand characters. The reason there is only this chapter today is because I went to find a professional to help again. I let that person look at some of the previous criminal trial processes, and as a result, I was sprayed with dog's blood, saying what kind of trash I wrote. Then I was slightly guided, and after coming back, I found classmates to organize a mock trial for this case. After that, I treated my classmates to hot pot in the evening, so it was late... Thanks to another novice brother, Wenchidage, Feimaowuyu, thanks for the tips, thank you.

(End of chapter)