Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 567 - 560 Another Battle? First Skirmish with Zhu Yuansi

Chapter 567: Chapter 560 Another Battle? First Skirmish with Zhu Yuansi

Longdu Lawyers Association, at the main entrance.

Zhang Wei and Tie Ruyun were conversing in low voices.

"Old Tie, will you be okay going back to the hotel by yourself? I still have to attend another hearing, so I can’t keep you company!"

"I know, it’s for that kid Guan Ping, right? Off you go. I’ll be fine on my own!"

As Tie Ruyun was undergoing an internal probe by the Lawyer’s Association, he couldn’t go to the courthouse, nor could he meet with clients or related parties, which is why he couldn’t attend the hearing at the courthouse.

For this reason, the cases involving Guan Ping and even Guan Yuhong had to be handled solely by Zhang Wei.

On Tuesday afternoon, the hearing regarding the death of Lin Berte, as well as whether the investigation department and the prosecutor should initiate murder charges against Guan Ping, was to be held that afternoon.

In fact, Zhang Wei had done quite a bit of preparation for this hearing.

At this moment, he set off again, heading toward the district courthouse of Longdu.

Longdu Courthouse, at the main entrance.

Guan Ping had already been waiting there for a while and hurriedly waved when he saw Zhang Wei arriving in haste.

"Lawyer Zhang, you’ve finally arrived!"

"You’re here pretty early. I spent this morning helping Old Tie with the internal investigation, and now I’ve got your case to deal with. It sure is busy!"

Zhang Wei made a joking remark and led Guan Ping inside the courthouse.

A hearing is different from a trial. It is an internal non-public session that mainly aims to determine whether to initiate prosecution.

In such hearings, the only person the prosecution and defense need to convince is the judge.

Typically, internal hearings don’t even have a jury.

Therefore, Zhang Wei took Guan Ping straight to the hearing venue, a small courtroom within the Longdu Courthouse.

The one responsible for this hearing was a seasoned judge named Bao Yansu, whose face was somewhat dark, earning him the nickname of "Heiming Baogong" within the Longdu judicial system.

This was the first time Zhang Wei encountered this modern-day "Judge Bao," and he was slightly surprised.

Because of the judge’s dark complexion, Zhang Wei’s skill at reading facial expressions and discerning people’s thoughts was somewhat hindered.

Thus, Zhang Wei prayed inwardly: hopefully, this Heiming Baogong could be as impartial as his namesake ancestor, the dark-faced Bao Gong (Bao Zheng).

Meanwhile, Zhang Wei turned his attention to the prosecutor’s bench.

There were two people on the opposing side, a man and a woman.

The man appeared younger and was very deferential to the woman sitting next to him, resembling an assistant.

The woman seemed to be in her mid-to-late thirties, with her hair up and wearing formal attire, her expression serious and no-nonsense.

If Tie Ruyun had come along, he would have surely reminded Zhang Wei that this female prosecutor was Zhu Yuansi, and besides Qin Yang, she had the most formidable track record at the Longdu District Procuratorate Office!

Zhu Yuansi was a Senior Prosecutor at the Longdu District Procuratorate Office, a leading figure among Longdu’s prosecutors, a truly formidable person.

"Prosecutor Zhu, it’s rare to see you these days!"

From the bench, Judge Bao greeted Zhu Yuansi.

"Judge Bao, it’s been a few days, but your complexion is still as good as ever!"

"Hahaha..."

Judge Bao laughed.

My face is so dark, how can there be any complexion. You’re quite the joker.

Setting aside the prosecutor and the judge who were all smiles, Zhang Wei too observed the two from the defense bench.

His gaze was naturally noticed by Judge Bao and Zhu Yuansi.

Both were seasoned courtroom players with sharp powers of observation.

"Prosecutor Zhu, who is your opponent? I don’t seem to have seen this youngster before."

"His name is Zhang Wei. He isn’t from Longdu; he comes from Dongfang Capital. Naturally, Judge Bao, you haven’t seen him. In fact, this should be his first time at the Longdu Courthouse!"

"Oh, I see, understood."

Judge Bao glanced at Zhang Wei and then smiled at Zhu Yuansi, "Since he’s a newcomer, Prosecutor Zhu, you’ll have to watch out later and not be too harsh, leave some face for the newcomer!"

"I’ll try my best..."

Zhu Yuansi replied perfunctorily, but a trace of seriousness appeared in her eyes.

Because she had experienced Zhang Wei’s tactics firsthand the day before when he faced the questioning of two Investigation Department officers, displaying a savvy style that was definitely not that of a newcomer.

Even though Zhang Wei looked young, Senior Procuratorate Qin had also reminded her that this Zhang Wei was very tricky.

Therefore, Zhu Yuansi felt that she might encounter some difficulties in the upcoming hearing.

However, she believed the advantage was still on her side.

After all, Zhang Wei had only arrived on Monday, and today was Tuesday; how much could he prepare in just one day?

Although the case wasn’t ironclad, the advantage was with me!

A few minutes later, the hearing finally began.

"Ahem, this court announces that the hearing to determine whether suspect Guan Ping should be indicted for the murder of victim Lin Berte is now in session!"

After Judge Bao made the announcement, he looked at Zhu Yuansi, "Prosecution, please present your evidence first!"

Zhu Yuansi stood up smoothly and walked to the front of the court.

"Judge Bao, in the case of the murder of victim Lin Berte, the Investigation Department has collected numerous pieces of evidence against suspect Guan. Among them, surveillance footage revealed that the suspect Guan had followed the victim multiple times before his death..."

"Objection, baseless accusation, I have told the two officers of the Investigation Department before that these so-called followings were all coincidences!"

Zhang Wei interrupted Zhu Yuansi just as she began to speak.

This time it was in court, and with the judge present, the identities of the prosecution and defense were clear; it wasn’t an internal investigation of the Lawyers Association, so it was natural to interrupt the opponent now.

After interrupting Zhu Yuansi, Zhang Wei turned to the bench, "Judge Bao, the prosecution mentioned multiple instances of stalking, which are nothing more than coincidences such as the victim going to the supermarket and my client also happening to be there, as well as times when the victim returned home and my client also happened to be returning home at the same time. The rest were mere coincidences caused by both parties living across the street from each other."

"Is it not too arbitrary for the prosecution to take these coincidences as my client stalking the victim?"

"This..."

Judge Bao hadn’t expected the young man on the defense side to be so aggressive.

Zhu Yuansi had barely started speaking when you directly interrupted her.

However, young man, what you said seems somewhat reasonable. Stalking and a simple coincidence of taking the same route, huh?

"Prosecutor Zhu, the so-called suspect following the victim as you mentioned, can’t really be just such simple coincidences as the defense says, can it?"

Zhu Yuansi hadn’t expected Zhang Wei to cut her off so decisively, interrupting her right after her first sentence.

But what she didn’t expect either was that Judge Bao seemed to be persuaded by the other side.

"Judge Bao, once or twice may be coincidental, but if it happens more than 5 times in a week, can it still be a coincidence?"

As Zhu Yuansi spoke, she submitted all the so-called tracking photos provided by the Investigation Department to the bench.

Zhang Wei, of course, had seen these photos, so he knew that the victim and Guan Ping appeared together in them.

"In fact, there are 5 instances in a week, not because the suspect didn’t follow on the remaining two days, but simply because the victim didn’t go out. Therefore, we have reason to suspect that the suspect has been conducting round-the-clock surveillance on the victim!"

"Objection, the prosecution is making unwarranted speculation about my client!"

Zhang Wei stood up again to interrupt Zhu Yuansi, and this time his expression was extremely serious, "Judge Bao, I believe the prosecution’s arguments are very one-sided. She has overlooked the most important and the most easily overlooked detail!"

"Oh, what is it?"

Judge Bao’s interest was immediately piqued, his eyes gleaming.

"The detail Prosecutor Zhu overlooked is my client’s diligence!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuansi paused slightly, and even Judge Bao was taken aback for a moment.

Diligence?

What kind of evidence is that?

Is this even evidence, and how do you plan to demonstrate it in court?

"Prosecutor Zhu should be aware that my client is a plumber and electrician, right?"

"So what?" Zhu Yuansi said with a strange expression on his face.

What does it matter if your client is a hydropower maintenance worker?

Zhang Wei simply smiled slightly and took out a stack of documents from his briefcase.

"In response to the so-called tracking behavior pointed out by Prosecutor Zhu, our side also submits rebuttal evidence!"

Zhang Wei divided the documents in his hand into two parts, one he handed to Judge Bao and the other he gave to the assistant of Prosecutor Zhu.

"These are my client’s records of hydropower pipeline maintenance visits over the past two months. His company keeps records of every dispatch of workers for verification, a fact that Prosecutor Zhu must be well aware of."

Zhu Yuansi naturally knew this; in fact, he had visited the maintenance company yesterday to understand Guan Ping’s situation. However, Guan Ping was not good at communicating within the company and his relationship with other colleagues could not be said to be either good or bad.

"These records prove that my client was out working every day during the alleged tracking period. He just happened to finish his work and encountered the victim Lin Berte after returning from work."

"If it were as the prosecution says, that my client was surveilling the victim around the clock, why would he still need to go out to work every day?"

"Additionally, if my client truly wanted to surveil the victim, as a hydropower maintenance worker, he had also carried out multiple repairs and pipeline maintenance in the victim’s building. Wouldn’t it have been easier to install a monitoring probe nearby the victim’s residence for surveillance, rather than going out of his way to have coincidental encounters with the victim every day on his way to and from work?"

Zhang Wei spread his hands and then pointed at Guan Ping, "So, as I said, my client really just happened to encounter the victim after getting off work each day."

"Judge Bao, you too probably often run into your own neighbors by chance when you go out shopping at the supermarket, take a walk in the park, or stroll down the street, right?"

"Now that you mention it, it seems you’re right..."

Judge Bao unconsciously nodded, as if he understood all this.

He then looked towards Zhu Yuansi, "Prosecutor Zhu, if these documents you have submitted do not have further evidence that can prove the suspect surveilled the victim, then the court will consider this evidence insufficient to support your point of view and will reject these documents!"

"This..."

Zhu Yuansi frowned, finally sensing the difficulty of dealing with Zhang Wei.

With just these few photos, the opposing party actually found so many reasons for sophistry.

Yes, sophistry!

Zhu Yuansi felt that all of Zhang Wei’s explanations were complete sophistry!

"We have other evidence!"

Since the first piece of evidence was ineffective, naturally new evidence was needed.

Zhu Yuansi received a record from his assistant and passed it to the bench.

"This is the investigative department’s record, which clearly notes that the suspect’s traces were found within the building at the victim’s place of death, and when the investigative department wanted to question the suspect, the suspect exhibited behavior indicative of fleeing from guilt!"

What Zhu Yuansi submitted was the testimony of the investigative officer, along with an action investigation report.

After Lin Berte’s death, the investigative department received a report and rushed to the scene at high speed.

The result was that near the scene, traces of Guan Ping were found.

Faced with the investigative officers, Guan Ping naturally fled, which made his behavior look suspicious, and he was even listed as the prime suspect.

"Objection, my client did not flee from guilt, he simply acted subconsciously out of shock!"

However, to counter Zhu Yuansi’s accusations, Zhang Wei was also well-prepared with a response.

In fact, after having Guan Ping recall the situation back then, he had prepared a strategy for the response.

"Judge Bao, regarding the new evidence submitted by the prosecution, our side requests to summon the officer who first arrived at the scene of the victim’s death and who pursued my client to come to court to testify!"

Judge Bao thought for a moment, and also felt that having the investigator testify might be more effective.

"Hmm, the court approves this request!"

Upon seeing this, Zhu Yuansi glanced at his assistant, conveying a message with his eyes.

The assistant immediately left the courtroom, and a few minutes later, he brought back an investigator dressed in plain clothes.

"I was the first investigator to receive the report and arrive on the scene. Inside the building at the scene, we found the suspect Guan Ping acting suspiciously and wanted to question him. Unexpectedly, upon seeing us, Guan Ping seemed extremely panicked and started running when we approached, leading us to conclude that he was the murderer and to initiate a pursuit!"

As the investigator spoke, he glanced at Guan Ping, "However, the suspect was very fast, and his stamina was also surprising; in less than 5 minutes, he had thrown us all off."

"So we concluded that the suspect must have scouted the nearby terrain before acting, which allowed him to shake off all of our investigators!"

Hearing the investigator’s words, Judge Bao nodded.

But it seemed that Zhang Wei had an opinion.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, this investigator, why are you speaking so irresponsibly?"

He said that, walked up to the other party, and with a teasing face: "My client is acting suspiciously, looking panicked, running away, and even scouted the area beforehand, how can you speak so irresponsibly?"

"Everything I said is the truth!" the investigator didn’t get agitated by Zhang Wei’s sarcastic tone and instead continued to emphasize coldly.

"Is that so?"

Zhang Wei smiled faintly, and then he asked, "If that’s the case, would you mind recalling what the first thing you said to my client was?"

"This..."

The investigator was confused, what was the first thing my client said to Guan Ping?

The situation was so urgent at the time that he almost spoke subconsciously, who would remember such details?

"If you can’t recall, let me help you remember. When you saw my client, wasn’t the first thing you said, ’Freeze, don’t move, turn around!’"

"Right, yes!" The investigator nodded his head, he should have said that.

"Afterward, when my client didn’t turn around, what did you say?"

"I think I asked him some questions, like ’Who are you’, ’Why are you here’, things like that?"

"Right, you did ask these questions."

Zhang Wei nodded his head but then said with a strange look, "But as an investigator, shouldn’t you have identified yourself first?"

"I did!" the investigator pointed at Guan Ping, "But just as I was identifying myself, he ran away!"

"So, in fact, you didn’t identify yourself right away, did you?"

"I guess not..."

Seeing the investigator admitted it, Zhang Wei smiled faintly.

"Since that’s the case, let’s recreate the scene at the time!"

Zhang Wei said this and walked to the center of the courtroom, beginning to construct the situation at the crime scene.

"My client just happened to be walking in the building where the victim Lin Berte lived; of course, it’s also possible that he was checking for leaks in the pipes or electrical issues, after all, he had done maintenance on that building before, perhaps he felt a sudden urge that day."

"And at that moment, two burly men rushed out from behind him and looked at him with menacing faces, shouting..."

Zhang Wei paused for a moment, then took a deep breath and shouted:"Freeze, don’t move, turn around!"

"Later, they continued to shout loudly, ’Who are you’, ’Why are you here’, and other phrases. At this point, my client was obviously scared."

"After all, he’s just an ordinary person, an ordinary plumber, while behind him stand two men with unknown identities who are fiercely walking towards him, not even clear if they are carrying weapons."

"So at this time, what should my client do, just surrender or take a chance to escape?"

"I believe that, not knowing whether the people behind him were armed or not, it’s always right to prepare for the worst. So following his survival instincts, my client took off running and finally lost the potential threat by relying on his familiarity with the nearby streets."

Zhang Wei said this and looked towards the bench: "Judge Bao, this is the true situation at the time, my client was merely running away to protect himself, nothing more."

"This..." Even Judge Bao was stunned by Zhang Wei’s explanation.

Was that the case, was that what happened at that time?

The investigator sitting in the witness stand couldn’t help it and immediately retorted, "I said we were from the investigative department, so why did he run!"

"Under extreme panic, a person can experience a temporary cognitive dysfunction. Even if you said you were my client’s father, he might not have heard you!"

Zhang Wei smiled faintly again and easily replied with a joking remark.

"This..." Now, the investigator was also left speechless.

"So, my client ran away because he was scared, and the responsibility actually lies with the investigative department. They failed to identify themselves upon encountering my client for the first time, causing him to misconceive a possible threat, forcing him to frantically run for his life, thus leading to this unnecessary misunderstanding!"

"I believe that if the investigators had identified themselves right away, my client would have been very willing to stay and accept the investigation, don’t you think so, Prosecutor Zhu?"

Zhu Yuansi felt that today he had indeed met his match.

This Zhang Wei, when refuting our evidence, he uses one fallacious argument after another.