Chapter 64

The lead lawyer looked at the apprentice; he had talked with the apprentice and told the other party how to speak in order to obtain a lenient result from this case.

He told the truth, saying how Jonny exploited and squeezed his labor, how he extorted his money, and how he humiliated him and his mother.

This kind of thing... honestly, it couldn't make the judge feel very sympathetic, because there are plenty of things more stupid and pathetic than this encounter. At the beginning, he certainly had kindness and compassion, but after encountering all kinds of terrible things, he became less prone to anger and less prone to empathizing with the weak.

"It sounds truly terrible." He turned to look at Jonny, "Since you don't have a defense lawyer, you must defend yourself. I need to tell you that you must be responsible for every word you say; at the same time, every word you say will determine the direction of some things."

"Now, tell me, is what he said true?"

Jonny stammered for a long time, not knowing what to say; finally, he said, "But he wanted to learn my recipe; working for me for free and paying me every month was the price."

He seemed to have thought of something, "Everyone knows my bread is the most delicious, so I think this is not excessive."

The judge nodded noncommittally, "And his mother?"

"That was voluntary on her part!"

The judge raised an eyebrow, and Anthony immediately raised his hand, catching the judge's attention, "Judge, I have a question I would like to ask the plaintiff, Mr. Jonny."

The judge nodded; this was in accordance with the rules, "You may."

"First, you said these were the costs he paid you to learn your recipe; did you teach him any recipe or technique?"

Jonny remained silent, because he hadn't taught him anything, but he still barely defended himself, "I taught him how to knead dough."

Anthony curled the corner of his mouth, "Everyone knows how to knead dough; that is not the reason why your bread is delicious. So you didn't teach him any technique, after he had actually already paid you the price."

Jonny stopped talking; this kind of thing couldn't be lied about in front of the apprentice.

"Mr. Jonny, did you deliberately use some vicious words in front of my client... to stimulate him to achieve your goal of deliberately humiliating him?"

"Did you deliberately leave the bedroom door ajar and make... the lady cry out loudly?"

"Everything you did was actually to humiliate him more intensely and stimulatingly!"

"Before you answer yes or no, I hope you can think clearly; do not lie to the court and the judge, because we can request to have his mother come here to testify at any time."

"We are not inviting her now, just out of respect and protection for women, but if you lie and try to deceive the judge and the court, perhaps we will have her come to confront you."

Jonny's heart began to race, and he was sweating profusely; he did indeed have such thoughts. He just wanted to see if he could keep stimulating the apprentice to make him... He didn't know what kind of strange illness this was; only when he did that would he feel stimulated and refreshed.

But now, facing the judge, he couldn't say it out loud.

And his continuous silence also made the judge and the lawyer understand what he wanted to express.

"Judge, I have finished my questioning."

The judge casually wrote something on the paper in front of him, which no one could see.

After about twenty or thirty seconds, he raised his head, "The case is indeed simple, but also somewhat complex. I originally thought this was just a simple case of violent home invasion for money, but I didn't expect there to be so many unexpected things."

"Do both sides have anything else to ask, or new evidence to present?"

"No, Judge."

Jonny was somewhat dazed, but he followed suit and shook his head, "I have nothing to say either, Judge."

Originally, he felt he was very reasonable, but with the opposing lawyer's rambling, he suddenly felt that he was the one who was unforgivable!

Clearly, he was the victim!

The judge exhaled, "Closing arguments."

Jonny was dazed, but Anthony was well-prepared.

He "reconstructed" the case itself from various angles: a young man who had been subjected to exploitation, oppression, and severe humiliation, having no other way, sought help from his friends to help him seek justice, eventually injuring Jonny.

As for the money taken?

That was just a manifestation of the young people's immature thinking; they were willing to return the stolen money and actively plead guilty.

Several young people took the initiative to stand up and apologize to Jonny, including the apprentice, who stated that he should have treated these problems more rationally instead of venting all his emotions through violence.

A serious home invasion case turned into retaliation; retaliation and home invasion are two different natures.

Revengeism is very prevalent in the Federation and is rampant under the integration of multiple ethnic groups, so the judge even agreed with their ideas to a certain extent, but did not agree with their methods.

That is to say, he also felt that they should have retaliated against Jonny, but it should have been done through reasonable, appropriate, and legal means, rather than... beating him up and taking some money along the way.

Anthony's closing argument was to hope that the judge would consider that these young people had no criminal record, had actively contributed to society, and were willing to compensate, and thus grant a light sentence.

At the same time, he also hoped that the court would consider the apprentice's psychological state when making these decisions, the problems he was facing, and combine actual factors to give him a chance to admit his mistakes and correct them.

As for Jonny?

The judge glanced at him and asked, "What are your thoughts now?"

"That is to say, what are your demands, what do you hope they will do?"

Jonny suddenly said loudly, "I hope to have them locked up for a few more years."

The judge's expression didn't change, but Anthony smiled; dealing with such an idiot really didn't require using any brains.

Federal judges have great power, so to become an excellent lawyer, one must master the judge's emotional changes.

Throughout the trial process, he was shaping a story of a "green avenger," and the revenge was not successful because they were young.

The context of the matter was also very clear, and the story was told perfectly; if Jonny could show generosity and magnanimity, the judge might consider giving them a moderate sentence.

At least it wouldn't make Jonny feel aggrieved.

But his current approach instead made the sharp and mean image that Anthony and the apprentice had shaped for him become more three-dimensional; the judge naturally would also like such a person less. After all, judges are also people, and if they are people, they will have their own subjective likes and dislikes.

When the judge's position began to be non-neutral, this lawsuit was secure.

"Court is adjourned temporarily; the result will be announced in ten minutes..."

Anthony appeared very relaxed, which also made the young people and their families breathe a sigh of relief; only Jonny was unhappy, feeling that he had been tricked by the lawyer.

He should have hired a lawyer; he also felt that the judge in court seemed... not so respectful to him.

He knew he shouldn't use the word respect; what he wanted to express was that the judge's stance seemed to have tilted, although the judge didn't show it, he could feel it.

That look, that demeanor, all indicated that he had an opinion about him.

Damn it!

Ten minutes passed quickly; after returning to court, the judge announced the result in court.

All six youths were first-time offenders, had no prior criminal record before this, and did not show harm to society. The two young people among them who mainly used sticks to break Jonny's two arms were sentenced to nine months (the one who broke Jonny's second arm) and one year (the one who broke Jonny's first arm) of imprisonment, and sixty hours of community service.

The other three were all sentenced to community service, all over one hundred hours.

Furthermore, they had to return the stolen money and compensate for a portion of the expenses.

Because Jonny didn't have a lawyer to assert his compensation claims for him, the judge would only compensate according to what the judge himself could decide, which was mental distress fees, medical expenses, and nutritional fees.

These things all have standards, just refer to them directly; as for the others?

Jonny didn't have a lawyer, and he didn't assert them himself, so the court certainly wouldn't help him.

As for the core of the case, the apprentice, the judge considered that there was a reason for the incident, but it did indeed cause serious consequences, considering that the apprentice had actually been in a weak position throughout the entire event.

So the judge was exceptionally merciful, only sentencing him to three and a half years, with an additional two hundred hours of community service after his release.

A successful case; Anthony shook hands with his clients and their families. This result was actually the best result, and could even be said to have exceeded his imagination.

The parents were very grateful to him and praised his ability; of course, Anthony would also be humble, "This actually should be thanked to Mr. Jonny for not hiring a lawyer. If he had hired a lawyer, it would have been very difficult for us to get such a result."

"It might even have been at least two years or more, but..." He showed a smile that could only be understood, "So this case ends here; as for whether you want to continue to do anything, it has nothing to do with me."

Soon, lawyer Anthony left, while Jonny went to ask the judge why the sentence was so light, but he had only shouted twice before being expelled from the court.

After considering for a long time, the apprentice decided to continue to retaliate against Jonny.

When talking to the lawyer about this case, the lawyer told him that he intended to use Jonny's tax evasion as a bargaining chip to reach an out-of-court settlement.

But Jonny refused.

They had gotten over a thousand dollars from Jonny at once; obviously, there was a problem with this money.

Even if there was no problem, the tax bureau could make it have a problem. Who the hell keeps so much cash at home for no reason?

You say there's no problem, very good; now please explain the origin and flow of every penny. If you can't explain it clearly, then there's a problem!

But now the case had achieved the most perfect result, so Anthony would no longer do subsequent unnecessary things; as for whether the apprentice and other young people would report it, that had nothing to do with him.

Unless someone needed him to continue to represent this case, but after reporting tax evasion to the tax bureau, there was no need for him to intervene.

The Federal Tax Bureau not only has powerful armed forces but also a powerful legal team!

"Respected Federal Tax Bureau:"

"I am a worker at a bakery, and I suspect my boss..."

The crooked handwriting was not beautiful, but at least it allowed people to understand what he had said.

The letter, which totaled less than one-third of a page, was put into an envelope after being checked by the bailiff and then dropped into the mailbox inside the court.

This kind of email reporting tax evasion does not need a stamp; the Jincheng Tax Bureau has greeted the post office, and they will bear the postage costs.

This was the last thing he did before serving his sentence; at the same time, he also knew that his mother had already left Jincheng, and perhaps they would never meet again in this life.

For a moment, all of this made the apprentice feel relaxed.