Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 588 - 581: Everything Requires Evidence! Old Huo?

Chapter 588: Chapter 581: Everything Requires Evidence! Old Huo?

On the weapon wood block sword, there could only be the girl’s fingerprints.

Because Zhang Wei wore gloves throughout the entire action, it was absolutely impossible for him to leave his own fingerprints on the wood block sword.

This was the very thing Zhang Wei wanted to tell everyone, and for this, he even went so far as to have a child perform in court.

Now, everyone in the courtroom could see it.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, you all saw, it was I who killed Miss Sun, but if I hand over the weapon in my hand to the investigation department, what result could they possibly get?"

Zhang Wei raised the wood block sword high and then shouted, "The only result the investigation department can provide is this: the weapon bears only the fingerprints of Miss Sun herself!"

"Because I was wearing gloves the whole time, it is absolutely~absolutely~absolutely~impossible for there to be any fingerprints of Zhang Someone on this weapon!"

Underneath the three absolutes lay Zhang Wei’s confidence and the narration of facts.

On the wood block sword, there would be no fingerprints of the real murderer.

"Miss Sun, you may stand up now. I give your acting full marks, at least it’s better than your mother’s!"

After that, Zhang Wei helped the girl up, allowing her to sit back in the witness stand.

"You all saw, right? Why there are no fingerprints of mine on the weapon, because all along, it was Miss Sun who assembled the blocks. By the same logic, if the real murderer of this case had been wearing gloves from start to finish while assembling, then no fingerprints of theirs would be left on the weapon umbrella."

Having said this, Zhang Wei pointed towards the defendant’s bench, towards his own client, Guan Yuhong.

"My client Mr. Guan has been running a general store since 12 years ago, selling all manner of things, including black umbrellas, and some precision parts like gears and screws."

"Let’s make a hypothesis here. If the person who killed the victim Sun Mou was actually someone else trying to frame my client Mr. Guan, could they not have purchased the materials to create the weapon in his general store? Isn’t that a possibility?"

"If they bought the parts in my client’s store, then wouldn’t all those parts have Mr. Guan’s fingerprints on them? And the murderer would definitely wear gloves during the whole assembly process to ensure no fingerprints were left on the weapon, thus perfectly framing my client, wouldn’t it?"

Upon hearing this, many people in the courtroom nodded.

"Objection, all this is nothing but the defense lawyer’s subjective conjecture!"

Seeing the court’s mood shift unfavorably, Zhu Yuansi stood up and interrupted.

"Is that so?"

But Zhang Wei just smiled slightly and immediately turned to look at the witness stand.

"Miss Sun, do you think the possibility I spoke of exists?"

"Uh..."

Although the girl was a witness, one fact couldn’t be ignored.

She was only 13 years old, a middle school student, and such a complex question was something she couldn’t quite grasp.

Moreover, she wasn’t fond of reading detective or mystery novels, so Zhang Wei’s question seemed to stump her.

"It should, might, maybe, probably... exists, I guess..."

After some thought, the girl didn’t make a definitive statement.

"Oh, there’s a possibility, even a 13-year-old child thinks it’s possible, huh~" Zhang Wei smiled again and winked at the judge and the jury.

"Objection overruled, the defense has raised a reasonable doubt that could be possible!" Judge Bao, albeit reluctantly, could only nod.

Yes, there was indeed such a possibility.

And the point raised by Zhang Wei in court was precisely a reasonable doubt!

Similarly, should there be evidence, if he could prove the existence of aliens, then aliens framing Guan Yuhong would also be a reasonable doubt.

It’s just that, aliens were a joke; how could they really exist.

But someone framing Guan Yuhong, that was the true nature of the case.

"As everyone can see, there is another true narrative in this case: someone else is framing my client, the real murderer is another person!"

"My client Guan Yuhong was merely a humble general store owner 12 years ago, an honest and upright person. How could he possibly commit murder?"

"As for the so-called conflict between him and the victim Sun Mou, it was nothing more than the nature of Sun Mou’s job. Put yourself in their shoes. If someone came to your door every day demanding rent, would you be happy, would you not get angry, would you not want to give them a piece of your mind?"

"It was because my client had a conflict with Sun Mou, and then someone with an agenda used that, making him the target of the real murderer’s framing."

"Objection!"

Zhu Yuansi stood up again and faced the judge, "Judge Bao, are you just going to let the defense lawyer speculate wildly like this? So if he says the real culprit is an alien, does that also become a possibility?"

"Aliens are too far-fetched, but my client has indeed been framed!"

Zhang Wei simply spread his hands and questioned Zhu Yuansi, "I would like to ask, where is there a murderer who, after killing someone, would leave the murder weapon near the deceased?"

"I find it strange. Is he afraid that the Investigation Department won’t be able to find him, so he deliberately leaves clues for their officers to catch him?"

"Although I, the party involved, didn’t major in criminal investigation at school, using a meticulously crafted mechanical umbrella as a murder weapon surely cannot be an act of impulsive homicide. This must’ve been a premeditated action, decided after calculating a reasonable murder plan."

"It’s hard to imagine that, in the final moments, the murderer would leave the weapon, smeared with his own fingerprints, at the crime scene, especially making it easy for the Investigation Department to trace it back to himself, wouldn’t you say?"

Zhang Wei’s words won the agreement of many in the courtroom.

Yes, that’s unreasonable!

First of all, this definitely wasn’t an impulsive murder.

Because the tool used to kill Sun Mou was a precisely designed mechanical umbrella, the person capable of making such a murder weapon couldn’t possibly be an impulsive murderer.

Secondly, why was the murder weapon left at the scene?

Since it wasn’t the work of an impulsive murderer, leaving a fingerprinted weapon at the scene is really unreasonable. Why not take the weapon away?

A black umbrella, even if stained with blood, wouldn’t be noticeable to the average person. Taking it away wouldn’t be a difficult task.

Therefore, based on Zhang Wei’s words, it’s more likely that someone bought the raw materials and components from Guan Yuhong, assembled the murder weapon, the black umbrella, and then on the day of Guan Yuhong’s quarrel with Sun Mou, ambushed Sun Mou, framing Guan Yuhong.

Thinking this way, is it not reasonable that the murderer would leave the weapon bearing Guan Yuhong’s fingerprints at the scene?

Many jurors nodded their heads.

Especially the engineering male, this juror specially selected by Zhang Wei, even showed an expression of "so that’s the real truth."

It could be said that Zhang Wei’s presentation of a reasonable doubt had attracted the attention of the entire jury.

Moreover, this doubt not only captivated the jury but also rendered Zhu Yuansi’s previous efforts futile.

Previously, Zhu Yuansi had proposed that Guan Yuhong had a motive for murder.

But Zhang Wei told everyone in the court that 12 years ago many people were suspected of wanting to murder Sun Mou because of his profession, many had quarrels with him.

If Guan Yuhong had a motive to kill, then so did the others.

There was more than just Guan Yuhong who had shouted that they wanted to kill Sun Mou.

In fact, Sun Mou’s ex-wives couldn’t even keep count of how many people had wanted to get rid of their former husband. If the expressions were merely verbal, then the number was simply too many.

As for the weapon, Zhang Wei also raised reasonable doubts and, with a "vivid and lifelike" performance, amplified those doubts for all to see.

You guess, is there a real culprit, framing Guan Yuhong?

Indeed, in the eyes of almost everyone in the court, this real culprit obviously existed.

Otherwise, it’s impossible to explain how a professional capable of making a precise murder tool could make such a fatal mistake by leaving a weapon with "his own" fingerprints at the scene, right?

"Miss Sun, thank you for your answer. Oh, and take this wood block sword as a little gift from me!"

Zhang Wei said, finally ending his questioning, and handed the "weapon" to the girl.

"Prosecutor Zhu, it’s your turn now!"

He smiled at Zhu Yuansi as he took off his plastic gloves.

Zhu Yuansi, with a gloomy face, stood up and approached the witness stand.

She looked at the 13-year-old girl on the witness stand and for a moment actually didn’t know how to start.

After all, questioning a girl, and moreover a victim’s family member, wasn’t what a prosecutor representing justice should do.

The girl blinked, holding the wood block sword, and looked intently at Zhu Yuansi.

Zhu Yuansi also looked back at her, and the two of them fell into silence.

"Miss Sun, I would like to ask, do you love your biological father?"

"I have no memory of him..." The girl shook her head.

Because when Sun Mou died, she was only a little over one year old; she had no concept of this father.

"Alright..."

Zhu Yuansi sighed, realizing her plan to evoke sympathy through the girl had to be abandoned reluctantly.

"Judge Bao, as for this witness, we have no questions to ask," she stated.

Facing a 13-year-old girl, Zhu Yuansi ultimately couldn’t bring herself to be harsh.

"You may step down, young lady," she said.

Judge Bao waved his hand, and the girl immediately stood up, walking step by step back to the witness bench.

"Lawyer Zhang, then, do you have any more questions for Ms. Dou?"

"Judge Bao, we have no further questions for Ms. Dou."

Judge Bao gestured to Sun Mou’s ex-wife on the witness bench, signaling that she didn’t need to come up.

Finally, Ms. Dou breathed a sigh of relief, then spoke a few words to her current husband, and the family of three got up and left immediately.

Clearly, after giving their testimony, they didn’t want to stay in the courtroom another minute.

Ms. Dou left with her husband and daughter, but as they were not key witnesses in the case, their departure had little impact on the court.

At this moment, the pressure once again shifted to Zhu Yuansi’s side.

She had thought that summoning Ms. Dou to the court and eliciting sympathies would sway the jury entirely to her side.

But she hadn’t expected that the accusations she had made could be so effortlessly dismissed by Zhang Wei.

The motive for murder, the murder weapon, and the fingerprints were all denied one by one by the opposing party.

Even Ms. Dou, the family member, and her daughter, became assistants and collaborators in Zhang Wei’s attack on the prosecution’s accusations.

Tricky!

At this moment, Zhu Yuansi truly understood the tricky part of having Zhang Wei as an opponent.

She admired those prosecutors from Dongfang Capital for having to spar with such a person every day; she was about to go crazy herself.

But what she didn’t know was that the prosecutors from Dongfang Capital were also on the verge of going crazy whenever they heard their opponent was Zhang Wei.

"Judge Bao, we would like to continue calling witnesses to the stand!"

"Granted!"

Under Zhu Yuansi’s summon, an old man with grey hair and a white beard took his place on the witness stand.

"Officer Huo, hello."

"Prosecutor Zhu, I’ve already retired. There’s no need to address me as Officer Huo. We know each other so well, just calling me Old Huo will do."

"I’ve gotten used to it, it’s hard for me to change that quickly."

Zhu Yuansi looked at the witness before her, a smile on her face.

This witness was a senior officer of the Investigation Department who had also been in charge of the Sun Mou murder case 12 years prior.

"Officer Huo, could you please tell everyone your connection to this case?"

"Of course!"

The witness didn’t pause, nodding as he spoke: "Twelve years ago, as a senior officer of the Longdu Investigation Department Serious Crime Team 1, I was in charge of the investigation of this case!"

"So at that time, after identifying the suspect Guan Yuhong through fingerprint analysis on the murder weapon, you arrested him, right?"

"Yes, the suspect had both a motive and his fingerprints on the weapon, so we arrested him!"

"What kind of person was the suspect Guan Yuhong in your eyes?"

"The suspect Guan was impulsive, lacking patience. Although he vehemently denied being the murderer, we knew he was lying all along!"

The witness’s words caused Guan Yuhong, sitting at the defense bench, to furrow his brows deeply.

In his mind, he involuntarily recalled the intense mental pressure he had endured in the interrogation room 12 years ago.

With a lie detector attached to his fingers, Serious Crime Team 1 officers bombarded him with incessant questioning, which nearly made him lose his patience.

"Guan Yuhong, are you the murderer?"

"I am not!"

"Why did you kill Sun Mou?"

"I didn’t!"

"He had a child in his arms, not even six months old; how could you bring yourself to do it?"

"I’ve said, I didn’t do it!"

"Denials are useless, your fingerprints are on the murder weapon, you can’t escape!"

"I’ve told you I didn’t do it, I don’t even know what the murder weapon is!"

"Haha, you’re still in denial? The weapon is covered in your fingerprints, how could you still try to dispute that?"

"I’m not disputing!"

"No, you’re lying, you are disputing!"

"I’m not..."

Guan Yuhong’s forehead glistened faintly with sweat, and his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

"Mr. Guan, are you nervous, or is it that something from 12 years ago is causing you psychological pressure?"

"Lawyer Zhang, you’ve seen through it. After I was arrested by the Serious Crime Team, no one believed me, and I was left without a chance to defend myself."

Guan Yuhong said this with a bitter smile on his face.

That experience was truly more than most people could bear, and it was a miracle he didn’t go mad.

God knows how he had managed to endure it all back then.

"It must have been tough for you. But the Serious Crime Team had evidence in their hands: the weapon, fingerprints, motive for murder—they were never going to let you go!"

Zhang Wei sneered coldly. Once the Serious Crime Team fixated on their perceived culprit, how could they let go?

Even if it had been him, faced with a murder case where the weapon and fingerprints all pointed to Guan Yuhong, he would have watched Guan around the clock, 24 hours a day, in search of a slipup.

It’s just that what the Longdu Investigation Department did 12 years ago was a bit too extreme.

And now, the purpose of Zhu Yuansi summoning Officer Huo was finally revealed.

"Officer Huo, the defense attorney just suggested that there’s a reasonable doubt in this case of a real murderer framing someone else. Do you agree with that?"

"Honestly, every case has its reasonable doubts, but what I want to say is that our Investigation Department makes arrests based on evidence. Since all the evidence pointed to the suspect Guan Yuhong at the time, naturally we would prioritize him as our target."

"What if there were other targets?"

"Then it depends on the evidence. If there’s evidence pointing to another target, we certainly won’t dismiss that reasonable doubt. But without evidence, it’s just the defense attorney trying to muddle the waters with so-called reasonable doubts."

As Officer Huo spoke, he glanced at Zhang Wei with a sneer: "Our Investigation Department only cares about evidence. If there’s evidence, we will investigate; if not, and you just casually raise one or two reasonable doubts, please forgive us for not indulging in that!"

Zhu Yuansi nodded, "It seems that the Investigation Department’s principle is to always rely on evidence!"

By saying this, it seemed like she was harmonizing with Officer Huo, but more so, she wanted to remind everyone in the courtroom that everything depends on evidence.

Just like just now, a certain Lawyer Zhang casually stepped into court, raised a completely unsupported reasonable doubt, and attempted to sway the court’s direction. That’s not right.

Please consider carefully, jurors, which side the evidence truly supports?

The prosecution has the motive for the murder and the fingerprints on the weapon.

As for the defense, they have nothing at all.

Officer Huo also emphasized this point several times through his remarks, everything must be based on evidence!

And don’t you know, after the back-and-forth between Zhu Yuansi and Officer Huo, indeed many on the jury began to change their minds.

On the one hand, all that Zhang Wei offered were guesses, assumptions.

On the other hand, an experienced officer from the Investigation Department said that they would not indulge in something without evidence.

So supporting the prosecution, there is at least evidence to back it up; whereas supporting the defense, would truly be baseless.

The direction of the court was quietly shifting.

Seeing this, Zhu Yuansi decided to further her point.

"Officer Huo, you just mentioned the defendant Guan Yuhong. What kind of person is he?"

"Impulsive, prone to anger, and even has a volatile temper!"

"So, a person like that, if he really made a weapon and after committing murder for the first time, is it likely he would leave the weapon at the crime scene?"

"Very likely!" Naturally, Officer Huo nodded, explaining, "Because when a person takes an unpredictable action for the first time, their brain will experience a degree of shutdown, that is, an inability to accept what they’ve done."

"That’s why, after an impulsive murder, a typical murderer will be in a daze, even unable to concentrate, doing things ordinary people can’t understand."

"Oh, doing things after a murder that ordinary people can’t understand."

Zhu Yuansi walked in front of the jury and even specially emphasized it again.

If Guan Yuhong killed someone, he might do things that the average person can’t understand, like...

Leaving the murder weapon with his fingerprints on it at the scene of the crime—it’s not impossible, is it?