The Little Rock prosecutor was so stunned by He Zhichu that he was almost speechless for a moment.
His lips trembled rapidly, and his throat uttered a series of meaningless syllables, expressing his anger.
He Zhichu only looked at him calmly, his peach blossom eyes filled with cold mockery.
The assistant beside the prosecutor quietly tugged on his sleeve, and the prosecutor came back to his senses, glared at He Zhichu fiercely, and continued to interrogate the housekeeper.
"Mr. Butler, please tell us what happened on the day the fire broke out at Vanderbilt's house."
The butler looked depressed and sad, walked to the witness box, and said painfully: "That day was no different from other times. Mr. Vanderbilt went out to walk the dog after dinner. Then..." He turned around suddenly and pointed to the man sitting in the defendant's box. Ye Xuan gritted his teeth and said, "Then there is this bastard! He has been pestering our husband for several days! At first, he pretended to be a passerby to spy on our husband. Later, our husband found out, and he pestered our husband without knowing what he was going to do. After being rejected by my husband for doing something, he became so angry that he set fire to the house and killed everyone in our husband’s family!”
As soon as the steward's words came out, there was an uproar in the courtroom.
The six members of the jury had different expressions, and they all looked thoughtfully at Ye Xuan in the dock.
The people in the auditorium had already begun to angrily accuse Ye Xuan.
These people were all neighbors who lived in the block of Vanderbilt's family and had a good relationship with the family. Seeing their innocent and tragic deaths, including four children among them, they hated Ye Xuan even more.
Some people even stood up publicly and called him "Devil! You will get your comeuppance!"
He Zhichu looked back and glanced coldly at the man who was making noises.
The judge knocked his gavel expressionlessly, "No noise is allowed in the courtroom. Please ask the person who shouted just now to get out."
Several bailiffs came over and drove out the man who just stood up and called Ye Xuan a "devil".
At this time, everyone was much quieter, and no one talked freely anymore.
The prosecutor calmed the agitated housekeeper, then walked up to Ye Xuan and asked with a secretly triumphant expression: "Mr. Ye, have you ever spied on Mr. Vanderbilt? You just need to answer yes or no."
Ye Xuan thought for a moment and found out that he had indeed observed Mr. Vanderbilt for a few days before meeting him.
Because he was not sure whether Gu Yanran's words were true or false, of course he had to confirm it first.
But if he answers yes, it proves that he is "peeping".
Peeping and observing are two completely different concepts and would seriously mislead the jury.
Before answering, Ye Xuan looked at He Zhichu.
He Zhichu had no expression. It seemed that no matter how he answered, it didn't matter. He was calm and leisurely.
This relaxed mood infected Ye Xuan, and he said calmly: "No."
"Are you lying?!" The prosecutor became even more excited, "Not only did the housekeeper see you peeping at Mr. Vanderbilt, but others also saw it. There are all witnesses, but you still dare to quibble?!"
Ye Xuan stopped talking, because He Zhichu had already stood up and defended him: "Your Excellency, prosecutor, before you assert that my client is lying, please explain the definition of 'peeping'."
Prosecutor: “…”
"Your Excellency, prosecutor, please answer my question." He Zhichu calmly asked him to answer again.
Even the judge looked at the prosecutor.
The prosecutor thought about it carefully and said intermittently: "Peeping is the act of peeking at other people's private parts without their permission."
He Zhichu nodded, walked to the housekeeper, and said, "Mr. Housekeeper, where was my client when you saw him 'peeping' at Vanderbilt?"
"...on the street." The steward replied blankly, "Many people have seen it. They can testify."
He pointed to his neighbors on the block, who were sitting in the gallery.
Everyone nodded, indicating that the butler was right.
He Zhichu's face was solemn, and his cold eyes swept across the faces of everyone in the court one by one. Some people couldn't help but lower their heads and looked away. Then they looked back at the housekeeper and said, "It was day or night. .”
"It was daytime, oh, I should say it was evening." The housekeeper quickly emphasized, "At that time, I just watched the cook tidying up the kitchen and coming out to take Mr. Vanderbilt home."
"So, your husband exposed his nakedness on the street in the evening?" He Zhichu twitched his lips, "What kind of nakedness did he expose?"
"Objection! The defendant's lawyer slandered the reputation of the deceased!" The prosecutor immediately stood up, pointed at He Zhichu and scolded, "... Lawyer He is so famous that he actually asked such a question! I didn't expect you to be such a lawyer He!"
He Zhichu stood quietly in the courtroom, his posture upright, sober and sober, and his upright demeanor made the prosecutor next to him with a shiny face look like a clown.
He waited slowly for him to finish speaking, and then retorted: "The prosecutor has just said that the legal definition of 'peeping' is the act of peeking at other people's private parts without their permission. And my client was on the street during the day. I saw the deceased Mr. Vanderbilt on the street. In this case, how could my client peek at another person walking on the street**? Unless that person was exposing his**."
The prosecutor was confused by He Zhichu's series of questions. After a while, he finally realized that he was slapping himself!
He Zhichu got him involved from the beginning.
It is so treacherous to first ask him to explain what "peeping" means and then defeat him with his own definition!
The prosecutor glared at He Chuchu, shook his fist, and said in surprise: "Peeping at others without their permission is voyeurism!"
"Wrong." He Zhichu shook his finger, "Legally, you have to peek at other people's sex to be called peeping. Since both of them were on the street at the time, and the deceased did not commit any sexual act, so The prosecutor's and Mr. Steward's accusations that my client 'peeped' at Mr. Vanderbilt are not true."
The judge nodded and knocked his gavel, "Prosecutors and witnesses, please pay attention to your words."
The prosecutor's first move was resolved in this way by He Zhichu.
He continued to ask the cook angrily: "What were you doing that day?"
The cook is not like the housekeeper. She has been in the kitchen or in her staff dormitory. She has never seen Ye Xuan at all. She only heard Mr. Housekeeper mention it a few times and said honestly: "I'm cooking. Clean up the kitchen and dining room." , Mr. Butler came back first with the dog, saying that Mr. Vanderbilt saw the man who was always following him again, and the two were talking and quarreling."
"Look here, is the man who quarreled with Mr. Vanderbilt here?" The prosecutor asked the cook to look for that man in the court.
The cook's gaze stayed on Ye Xuan's face curiously for a while, and finally she took it back and said, "I have never seen that person, nor have I heard that person's voice. I only heard Mr. Butler mention that there is such a thing." One person, so I can’t identify anyone.”
The cook refused to identify Ye Xuan, and the jury members immediately looked at each other.
The prosecutor's face looked a little dark, and he questioned the neighbors in the same block.
Some of these people have met Ye Xuan and remember him because they think he is very handsome...
But what they saw was no different from what the butler said, that is, they saw Ye Xuan and Mr. Vanderbilt quarreling on the street, but they didn't know what the quarrel was about.
The last witness questioned was the sergeant of the Little Rock Police Department.
He was calmer and tougher than the other witnesses.
When the prosecutor saw his appearance, he was extremely happy.
"Mr. Sheriff, you arrested a Barbadian man suspected of arson and murder in the early morning of October 29. Is he in court?"
The police chief glared at Ye Xuan and said angrily: "Yes, he is in this court, that's him." He pointed at Ye Xuan.
Ye Xuan lowered his eyes and looked at the table in front of him, not looking at the police chief at all.
"May I ask why you arrested him?"
"Because he is suspected of arson and murdering Mr. Vanderbilt's family! He is extremely evil! The crime is extremely heinous!" the police chief said categorically, with a look of righteousness on his face that was very contagious.
Two jurors were almost brainwashed by his words and began to believe that Ye Xuan was guilty.
He Zhichu raised his hand and said, "Objection. Mr. Sheriff's words are only subjective assumptions. Without any personal or material evidence, my client was arrested and detained for more than 72 hours without reason. We reserve the right to seek compensation from the Little Rock Police and Mr. Sheriff." s right."
"What are you talking about?! Claim?!" the police chief became angry. He leaned out from the witness stand and yelled at He Zhichu: "Are you questioning my professional ability?! I have been a police chief for thirty years and have never been beaten by anyone. Questioned!"
"There is a first time for everything, Mr. Sheriff, you have to get used to being questioned in the future." He Zhichu spread his hands, and his eyes passed over the faces of everyone in the court, and finally fell on the face of the Sheriff, "Mr. Sheriff , please first tell me why you think Ye Xuan is the first suspect?"
"It's very simple. He had a dispute with Mr. Vanderbilt before. After the dispute, he disappeared for four hours. Within these four hours, Mr. Vanderbilt's family was brutally killed and set on fire. This heinous The crime was committed by this person!" The Sheriff's words once again echoed inside and outside the court, and everyone couldn't help but listen.
One after another looked at Ye Xuan with scrutiny.
Ye Xuan still lowered his eyes and sat up straight in the dock.
After the police chief finished speaking, the prosecutor stood up and read out the charges against Ye Xuan with dignity.
"... Barbadian man Ye Xuan is accused of setting a fire at Vanderbilt's house in Little Rock, Utah, on October 28, and murdering twelve members of his family. The judge and jury are asked to consider the seriousness of the case and impose an appropriate penalty."
The prosecutor simply raises the accusation, and then it is up to the defense lawyer to cross-examine witnesses and review evidence to refute the prosecution's accusation.
It was also because time was tight and there was no time to explain the key points to Smith, and he was worried that Smith would not be able to adapt to the situation and mess up the trial, so He Zhichu chose to appear in court to defend himself.
He calmly stood up from the dock and walked to the center of the courtroom, nodding gracefully to everyone.
Almost everyone in the court had a favorable impression of him as soon as they saw him, except the police chief who gave him a cold look.
He Zhichu didn't see the police chief's gaze, walked straight to the prosecutor, and said fluently in a standard Oxford accent: "Your Excellency, prosecutor, what are the direct witnesses and evidence for your accusation? I I didn’t see you mention any direct witnesses or evidence just now.”
"The direct witness is Mr. Butler, and the evidence is the scene of the fire. Do you have any questions?" The prosecutor twitched his lips sarcastically, no longer disapproving of He Zhichu.
He Zhichu walked up to him calmly, caressing his chin with one hand and supporting the other elbow with the other hand, and said thoughtfully: "It turns out that in the opinion of the prosecutor, what he saw four hours before the murder occurred was It can also be called direct evidence. No wonder you have won 10% of the cases and lost 90% of the cases during your more than 30 years as a prosecutor."
"You are slanderous!" The prosecutor did not expect that He Zhichu would know his work performance ratio, and he suddenly became angry, "You violated my vagina! I will sue you!"
"Your Excellency, prosecutor, as a public official, your work performance is not personal. Taxpayers have the right to know the actual content." He Zhichu's voice cooled down, and he turned to look at the excited police chief, "Also Mr. Sheriff, you used subjective conjecture instead of objective evidence to arrest people, which is a serious abuse of public trust power."
When the prosecutor heard that He Zhichu related this matter to the issue of police abuse of public power, he felt a thump in his heart and secretly screamed...
Sure enough, the faces of the jury members immediately changed, including the three men who had originally dismissed Ye Xuan, and they all began to think about the issue of police abuse of public power raised by He Zhichu.
"Dear members of the jury, the murder case of Mr. Vanderbilt is very complicated. But the case my client is involved in is very simple. In short, he just inadvertently appeared in an inappropriate place and was taken advantage of and framed. , and this police chief did not arrest the real murderer, but only relied on hearsay without any direct witness or physical evidence to arrest my client and once refused bail. If this is okay, then where is the dignity of the law? ?Where are the personal rights of citizens?!”
He Zhichu's clear voice was loud and clear, and every word was like a heavy hammer, hitting the hearts of everyone in the courtroom.
The police chief was sweating profusely after what He Zhichu said, and he stood up in a hurry to defend himself: "I did not abuse my public power! I have evidence!"
"What evidence? A butler saw my client talking to Mr. Vanderbilt on the street in the evening? This is also called direct evidence? If you reason like this, Mr. Butler is even more suspicious, because he has spoken countless words to Mr. Vanderbilt. , I guess there was a dispute. What’s more important is that Mr. Vanderbilt’s family was killed, but the housekeeper and the cook were safe. If you reason like this, you two are also suspected!”
He Zhichu pointed his finger at Mr. Vanderbilt's housekeeper and cook. The two were frightened and shouted in unison: "No! We didn't do it! You have no evidence!"
"You know now that I have no evidence? Mr. Butler, then you keep saying that my client committed murder and set fire. Where is your direct evidence? I remember you said in the police station transcript that you didn't see who did it. Because you were already asleep by then."
He Zhichu squinted his eyes, raised his chin slightly, and looked at the sweating housekeeper indifferently, "According to Mr. Sheriff's logical reasoning, no one confirmed that you were sleeping at the time, so you are also suspected, and moreover, Even bigger. Because statistics show that 99% of such family murders are committed by insiders."
The housekeeper looked at He Zhichu dumbfounded, wondering how he suddenly changed from an important witness to an important suspect? !
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This is the second update of 4,300 words. Two updates today~~~Please recommend and vote for me monthly!
Where are your recommendations? Vote unanimously! o(□)o.
ps: Big chapter! Good night, folks! The dianniang book review area is under maintenance and it is said that it will not be available for normal use until after 10pm.
In addition, I posted a 500-word complaint on my Sina Weibo. If you want to read it, you can follow my Sina Weibo: Writer Cambrian.
o(n_n)o~.