eurekapd 329. Court (2)
329. Court (2)
"Both parties, please take your seats quickly, our trial is about to begin..."
In the noisy courtroom, Lu Qihao, his lawyer, and Lu Qifeng and his lawyer together with the police arrived at the venue on time. According to the seating requirements, the plaintiff and defendant sat in their corresponding seats and waited. The trial will begin.
Before the trial officially started, the court staff began to clear the venue one after another. Those journalists who squeezed their heads and wanted to get in, some kept waving the cameras in their hands, and some kept poking their heads to squeeze into the halfway house. Each body looked at the people present a few more times, and some kept pushing and shoving each other, watching each other.
"Okay, okay, this trial will not be announced to the public. Friends from the media, after the first trial is over, we will arrange a media reception. Please wait outside."
The security guards who followed the sound came forward one after another, and kept repeating the words to invite the media out, while reaching out their hands to maintain the order of the entire courtroom.After all, they were in the courthouse and not outside, so the reporters naturally didn't dare to be presumptuous. After a while, they stopped talking and walked out angrily one by one.
"Clearing is complete!"
When the last reporter walked out of the courtroom, the security guard slammed the door with a "bang", turned around and nodded to everyone around behind him, and everyone's eyes finally returned to the trial platform in the center of the courtroom superior.With the judgment table as the center, all the seats are divided into left and right sides.
On the left is the plaintiff represented by Lu Qihao. Not many people came with him today, except for the lawyer beside him, and a little girl who looked like an assistant following behind with a small bag on her back.The one sitting on the right is the defendant, the defendant is naturally Lu Qifeng, but this time Lu Qifeng is not involved in a civil dispute case but a criminal dispute case, and until the time of his appearance in court, he is still in custody, so in the dock, Not only Lu Qifeng and his lawyer were sitting there, but also a group of police officers from the Public Security Bureau who were in charge of escorting them.
"Everyone, I'm sorry to keep you waiting for so long."
After a long silence, the back door behind the trial court was suddenly opened. A woman in a judge's robe slowly came from the back door and walked quickly to the trial platform. Standing up, he looked towards the center of the courtroom.
"Because this case is relatively complicated, and the evidence and materials involved are relatively cumbersome. I have also carefully analyzed all the materials later, so I delayed the time to come up. Please bear with me."
To the surprise of everyone present, the judge in charge of the trial this time was not only a girl, but also a girl who looked very young in appearance and age. This kind of situation is rare in the world of judges.
"Okay, I announce that the first trial has officially started, and the next part is the oath taking."
The first to take the oath is the judge who just spoke and the jury next to him, followed by the plaintiff and the defendant in order.The process of swearing in the oath was very fast. After everyone took the oath, everyone sat back in their seats, and this battle without gunpowder began at this time.
"According to my understanding, the plaintiff, Mr. Lu Qihao, is accusing the defendant, Lu Qifeng, of killing his wife, Ms. Sun Xiaoxiao five years ago, causing her to fall from a cliff and die, right?"
The judge picked up the indictment, first turned his head, and looked in Lu Qihao's direction. However, the moment he heard the words, Lu Qihao's eyebrows frowned slightly involuntarily, and his heart suddenly "thumped".
Like Lu Qihao, it was his lawyer who felt very strange.Because according to the general process, the judge should ask the defendant first, but this time he asked the plaintiff first, which made both of them feel extremely weird.However, Lu Qihao still suppressed the hesitation in his heart, and spoke calmly.
"That's right, judge, and I have submitted all the evidence of tampering on the cliff's guardrail before, and you can see it."
"Um……"
Hearing what Lu Qihao said, the judge didn't say anything else, picked up the documents on the table, and began to examine them carefully. From Lu Qihao's point of view, he should be looking at the evidence submitted by the plaintiff.
"Your Honor! We oppose it!"
At this moment, Lu Qifeng's lawyer suddenly stood up.
"Attorney for the defendant, please state your point of view."
The judge looked at the lawyer surnamed Wang who was speaking to Lu Qifeng's lawyer.
"We, the defendant, applied for evidence sharing."
"agree."
Without any hesitation, the judge agreed to the request of the defendant, lawyer Wang, and handed over the documents in his hand to the court secretary, who then posted them on the big screen in the courtroom.
Lu Qihao's lawyer was about to stand up and share the evidence, but it was too late.
The photos shown on the big screen are just pictures of some guardrails that were deliberately worn on the cliff, and the identification results of the deliberate destruction obtained by the police at that time after the later identification.
"Your Honor, the defendant believes that the evidence provided by the plaintiff can only prove that the guardrail on the edge of the cliff was indeed destroyed by human beings, but it is not absolute evidence pointing to my client, so I think this piece of evidence is not sufficient."
"No, Your Honor..."
"invalid objection."
Before Lu Qihao's lawyer stood up to defend his evidence, the judge directly asserted the invalidity of the evidence, that is to say, there was no need for him to continue.
Immediately, Lu Qihao's lawyer felt very incomprehensible, and looked in Lu Qihao's direction with a puzzled face. If Lu Qihao hadn't pulled him back to his seat, he would have continued to entangle with the judge.
"Then the defendant, one of the evidences submitted by you said that Sun Xiaoxiao's body was never found after the death. An empty coffin, is there evidence for this?"
"Your Honor, according to the plaintiff, Sun Xiaoxiao is dead, but in fact, according to the law, Sun Xiaoxiao should at most be considered missing or her whereabouts are unknown. We brought all the evidence from the funeral home. The Lu family hastily took care of Sun Xiaoxiao's death, and it was indeed an empty coffin that was buried at that time."
"No, Your Honor. Falling from such a high cliff, naturally there will be no bones left. Whether my client's wife is dead or her whereabouts are unknown, it is a criminal case, and it is an intentional homicide. The circumstances are equally serious."
"So, Mr. Lu Qihao, you admit that your wife's body was not found five years ago?"
"Your Honor……"
"Mr. Lu Qihao, is that right or not?"
Lu Qihao's lawyer wanted to help Lu Qihao resist the judge's aggressive questioning, but the judge ignored his lawyer's appeal and asked directly in Lu Qihao's direction.
"Yes."
After a few seconds of silence, Lu Qihao answered this word lightly.
"This……"
Lu Qihao's lawyer wanted to say a few more words, but his anxious eyes met Lu Qihao's. He shook his head slightly, sighed helplessly, and sat back in his seat.
"Then plaintiff, among the evidence you submitted, there is one piece of evidence that said that after Sun Xiaoxiao fell off the cliff, some police officers from the police station deliberately omitted the details on the cliff fence when investigating the case, which caused the progress of the entire case to be delayed." Delay, is this the case?"
"Yes, Judge, and we request that witnesses be called."
"agree."
"Okay, then I invite our plaintiff's No. [-] witness to appear."
Speaking of this, Lu Qihao's lawyer quickly stood up and signaled the staff to bring out their No. [-] witness.So, the moment the words fell to the ground, a disheveled and timid man was brought to the trial stand by two policemen.
"Excuse me, are you the number one witness for the plaintiff?"
After the man stood still on the trial platform, the judge began to question him.
"Yes, it is……"
"Okay then, please take the oath first."
According to the process, no matter which witness comes up to testify, taking an oath is a necessary process.The clerk handed the affidavit into the man's hand, and the man read it word by word according to the sentences above.
The moment Lu Qihao saw the man, he turned his head and looked in Lu Qifeng's direction. Obviously, he was still very surprised when he saw that man. After all, this man was the one who took Lu Qifeng's money and helped him get his grandson The police officer who had been on the run the whole time that Xiaoxiao fell off the cliff had been hidden from the sky.
"After taking the oath, the trial process will officially begin..."
When the last word has been spoken, the judge begins the trial process.
"May I ask what your previous occupation was?"
"police"
The man's voice was so low that it was barely noticeable, it sounded like he had done something wrong, he didn't even dare to speak loudly.
"Why did you resign later?"
"Because... because... because..."
Speaking of this, the man naturally turned his head and glanced in Lu Qihao's direction, then subconsciously looked in Lu Qifeng's direction, swallowed, and then continued to speak.
"Because...I took...Mr. Lu's money...let...let me leave...the police station..."
"Which Mr. Lu?"
Lu Qihao's lawyer is slowly getting into the mood now, and the questions he asks hit the nail on the head, and he directly shoots at Lu Qifeng.
"Lu...Mr. Lu Qifeng..."
"Why did he ask you to do this?"
"Because...because...he asked me...to erase the evidence of the traces on the cliff at that time...at that time he gave me a sum of money...and said that after it was done...he let me go...free and easy ..."