Chapter 154: Chapter 122 Zhang Wei: Good Thing I Didn’t Take Their Case_4
"What is there to say?! Everything he said is nonsense! We’ve been living in the house for three years; surely, we own half of it!"
Jia Zuoying sneered. He retorted, "Why don’t you go ask around? Who in Lijing Garden doesn’t know that we, as a couple, live there?"
"Instead, it’s him! Over the past three years, he has constantly harassed us, knocking on our door every now and then..."
Jia Zuoying, disregarding all facts, immediately turned the tables.
Distorting the truth.
Instead, he portrayed himself as the legal owner of the property.
At this, Zhou Quanmin furrowed his brows and followed up with a question. "You claim you own half of the house, so why are your names not on the property deed?"
As he spoke, he instructed a bailiff from the Enforcement Court to retrieve a copy of the property deed.
This property deed only listed Zhang Tao’s name.
There were no disputes concerning the ownership.
"How would we know about that?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Fenlan immediately started clamoring, "Regardless, we own half of the house! We’ve been living there for three years. If we didn’t own half, how could he possibly let us live there?"
In front of the court staff and everyone in the gallery, she outright lied, attempting to bluff her way through with her usual tactics.
In fact, the two had carefully conspired before the hearing commenced: no matter how the court interrogated them, they would not admit anything.
"You officials, before the trial, should at least figure out who is living there, shouldn’t you?"
"We originally didn’t want to attend the hearing, but a few people claiming to be police officers broke our door."
"They forced us to come here! Isn’t this something you should look into?"
"While those policemen were holding us, they kept threatening us and would frequently hit us with objects..."
Wang Fenlan offered a rambling defense, adhering to the logic of a quarrel, making it difficult for others to follow her train of thought. She complained impulsively about whatever came to mind.
"Are you saying...the people in the detention center tortured you for a confession?!"
Presiding from the bench, Zhou Quanmin caught one of her statements, and his brows instantly knitted together. His expression was incredibly serious. Since becoming Judgment Chief, he had always administered justice impartially, strictly adjudicating and sentencing based on the law. Before the law, everyone is equal, no matter who they are. They had sworn oaths to the emblem of justice, making solemn promises. Misconduct by public officials, such as extorting confessions through torture, was an even more egregious offense!
"Ah?" Wang Fenlan paused, stunned.
Seeing that Zhou Quanmin seemed inclined to advocate on her behalf, she didn’t think much. With a face full of grievance, she nodded. "Yes! They kept threatening us, beat us for no reason, thrashed us, and when we said we didn’t want to go to court, they dragged us here..."
When Zhou Quanmin heard this, he confirmed again, "This is a courtroom. You must be responsible for your words. Do you confirm that they hit you?"
Wang Fenlan nodded habitually. "They did! They definitely hit us!"
Seeing someone seemingly supporting them, she hadn’t considered any other consequences.
Upon receiving confirmation, Zhou Quanmin gravely instructed the bailiff of the Enforcement Court, "Summon the head of the detention center to the court!"
Meanwhile, in the gallery, Zhang Qingyuan and the others started murmuring among themselves.
"What’s going on? Isn’t this the trial of the Old Zhang Family’s case? How did it involve the detention center police?"
"If it goes on like this, when will the case ever be concluded?"
"Xiao Qin, tell us, what’s actually going on?"
"Has the trial gone off topic?"
Zhang Qingyuan, Li Weiguo, and Song Tiancheng all unconsciously looked towards Qin Mu, somewhat baffled.
Qin Mu’s lips twitched, and he shook his head helplessly. He had never anticipated that such a turn of events would occur within minutes of the retrial commencing. The investigation of torture allegations naturally took precedence over other cases. And now, there’s an allegation of making false accusations... He looked deeply at the two defendants in the dock, who stood haughty and unrepentant, and sighed lightly. If there were a factual basis for their claims, it would be one thing. If not, their charges would only increase. Of course, with the protection of the general principles of criminal law, as long as their total sentence didn’t exceed thirty-five years, their actual prison time wouldn’t increase. For them, this bit more crime no longer seemed to weigh them down.
"Huh? Lawyer Zhang, why have you turned pale?"
Following that, Qin Mu noticed that Zhang Wei, sitting not far from him, seemed a bit off. Not only had his face turned pale, but fine beads of cold sweat had also appeared on his forehead.
Zhang Wei wiped his cold sweat and replied casually, "It’s...it’s nothing." Inwardly, he felt nothing but overwhelming relief. The job of a criminal lawyer truly wasn’t easy. He suddenly felt that his ability to last this long was nothing short of miraculous luck. If he were unlucky and encountered a few more clients like Jia Zuoying and Wang Fenlan... he definitely would have ended up incarcerated himself. Criminal defense lawyers were too easily implicated in legal offenses. Compared to the two before him, he even felt that previous clients like Lin Zhen and Gao Feng were far too compliant. "In the future, when taking cases, I must thoroughly understand the situation. I can’t just accept any case!" He took a deep breath and silently told himself. Some cases...really could cost a person their life. Even if he was incredible at getting sentences reduced, he couldn’t keep up with the rate at which clients willingly added to their own sentences.
The courtroom is a place of judicial solemnity. Any behavior here carries severe consequences. And the unrestrained behavior of Jia Zuoying and his wife, insulting and falsely accusing whomever they confronted, could certainly qualify as an aggravating circumstance constituting a crime.
Clearly, this was how Jia Zuoying and his wife typically interacted with others: lashing out at everyone they confronted. Evidence? They acted as if they needed none, offering no apologies.
「Four hours later.」
The court session was still ongoing, but Zhou Quanmin’s composure had once again been shattered. In order to finish trying this case in one go, he chose not to recess for lunch and continued the session. But the behavior of Jia Zuoying and his wife repeatedly tested his limits. Although they no longer disrupted the trial’s progression, the things they said were completely thoughtless.
Take, for example, the matter of torture to extract confessions, which was utterly fictitious. He had thoroughly verified it in court; upon examination, neither of them even had minor injuries. The detention center’s surveillance footage also showed that both were unharmed. Instead, the footage revealed both of them cursing continuously, verbally abusing the entire families of the detention personnel.
Besides, during the trial process, for all the questions he asked, both of them kept dodging the issues, not taking any of it seriously. As for all the evidence presented by the plaintiff, their only response was "bullshit," or they would simply curse outright and quarrel in court. The court proceedings were nearly forced to a halt several times.
BANG—
Finally, after thoroughly reviewing all the details of the case, Zhou Quanmin struck the gavel. He declared solemnly, "I, Zhou Quanmin, Judgment Chief of the Second Criminal Court, formally announce the judgment of this case."
"The plaintiff, Zhang Tao, filed a suit against the defendants, Jia Zuoying and Wang Fenlan. The verdict is as follows:"
"Defendants Jia Zuoying and Wang Fenlan forcibly broke into the bare apartment owned by Zhang Tao three years ago by prying the lock. They proceeded to illegally modify and renovate the premises. Their criminal actions are evident, supported by a complete chain of evidence, including property surveillance footage and testimonies from neighbors."
"For the crime of illegal intrusion into a residence, Jia Zuoying and Wang Fenlan are hereby sentenced to three years of fixed-term imprisonment."
After announcing the first charge, he paused for a moment, then continued to read the series of other charges.