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Xia County is not far from Tongguan. The burglary and murder case that occurred in Linyao Village, Xia County was supervised by Qin Mu himself, and all the case files and witnesses and evidence were quickly transferred to Chang'an.
Even the magistrate, Guan Pei, came along, and the county's official business was temporarily handed over to the county magistrate.
This had been hotly discussed in Chang'an for many days. As soon as the family files arrived, Qin Mu immediately issued an edict ordering Yu Chenglong to re-examine the case, and Qin Mu also went to Shuntian Prefecture in person to supervise the trial.
Because this was the first case of the Qin Dynasty filing a complaint with the emperor, the people were extremely concerned about it. Qin Mu specially issued an edict to allow 300 people to go to Shuntian Prefecture to watch the trial.
"Your Majesty has arrived!"
Hong Bao shouted loudly, and officials and civilians came together to pay homage in front of the Shuntian government office. Qin Mu, dressed in a royal robe and a crown, got off the sedan chair in front of the government office and walked straight into the lobby.
The imperial guards in front of the government office were heavily guarded, and all the people who were allowed to come and watch the trial were warned: During the trial, no loud noises were allowed to disrupt the court. They were also not allowed to cross the cordon set by the imperial guards without permission, otherwise they would be punished for plotting to assassinate the emperor.
Therefore, although the yamen was crowded with people, it was completely silent and the atmosphere was solemn.
An imperial desk was added to the main hall, and the desk of the presiding judge was moved below.
After Qin Mu sat down, he said to Jackie Chan, "Yu Qing, let's start."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Yu Chenglong bowed with his arms folded, as if he were a distinguished guest, and turned around and shouted, "Go to the hall."
"mighty!"
The two groups of yamen runners immediately shouted in a loud voice.
Xia County Magistrate Guan Pei was a man in his forties. When he arrived here, he was not even qualified to sit down. He stood respectfully at the side of the hall, sweat dripping from his forehead with nervousness. On the way to Chang'an, he had secretly cursed his bad luck countless times.
The emperor was sitting behind him, so Yu Chenglong didn't dare to shout as usual, but he felt that he couldn't lose his authority, so he shouted in a low but majestic voice: "Come on, summon the criminal to the court."
Qin Mu felt a little irritated when he heard this from behind. Although there is only one letter difference between "prisoner" and "suspect", the concepts are completely different. Calling someone a "prisoner" before the final judgment is a typical presumption of guilt. In the past dynasties, this seemed to be natural.
Once ordinary people were detained and brought to court, they were already "criminals", regardless of whether they had committed any crime or not. Therefore, the presiding judge would often punish them severely.
Qin Mu said nothing and just watched quietly.
The bailiffs quickly brought a young man into the courtroom. He was about seventeen years old, of medium build, and had a somewhat wandering look in his eyes.
"Who is this person in the hall? Where are you from? Come up here as soon as possible."
"Your Excellency, my name is Yang Guan, and I am from Linyao Village, Xia County, Pingyang Prefecture, Shanxi Province. Your Excellency, I am innocent. I did not kill anyone. I am innocent..." Yang Guan knelt in the hall and shouted loudly to protest his injustice.
"Yang Guan, you said you were wronged, so what evidence do you have to prove that you didn't kill my mother?"
"Sir, I was sleeping at home the night of the crime. I woke up when I heard someone shouting that someone had been murdered. My mother can testify to this. Sir, I am innocent!"
Yu Chenglong then called the victim's parents to the court. They were a couple in their forties. The man was honest and looked very nervous, but the woman, when she saw Yang Guan, immediately showed resentment in her eyes.
Yu Chenglong asked, "Wang Liushi, on the night your daughter Xia Niang was murdered, were you the first to arrive at the room where the crime occurred?"
Mrs. Wang Liu thought of her daughter's tragic scene and sobbed, "Your Excellency, my daughter was sleeping in the room next to mine. At three o'clock that night, I heard the sound of a chair falling to the ground in my daughter's room, so I got up to check. When I opened the door, I saw a dark figure climbing out of the window. My poor daughter... fell in a pool of blood, and the bed was covered in blood... I quickly shouted..."
"Wang Liu, please don't cry first. I want to ask you, did you hold the lamp at that time? Did you see who the black shadow was?"
"I... I didn't light the lamp... I did, but I lit the lamp after I saw the shadowy figure climbing out the window and escaping. My lord, although I didn't see the murderer's face clearly, his figure was similar to Yang Guan's, and he also fled in the direction of Yang's house after climbing out the window...
Sir, Yang Guan often steals and has bad behavior. Everyone in the village knows this. If you don't believe me, you can ask the head of the village to come to the court to ask. Also, he has always wanted to marry my daughter and even came to propose marriage.
Seeing that he was not a good person, I did not agree and instead promised my daughter to the Liu family in the next village. Yang Guan must have been resentful of this and did such a cruel thing. Sir, please help me. My poor daughter died so tragically! "
Yu Chenglong did not summon the head of the village to the court, but summoned Yang Guan's mother, Yang Liu, to the court. When Yang Liu saw her son, she could not help but rush to him, "Son!" This cry of sorrow contained so much maternal love and sadness that it was heartbreaking to hear.
Yu Chenglong asked the yamen runners to pull Yang Liu away, and then asked in a deep voice: "Yang Liu, you said that your son Yang Guan was at home at the time of the crime. I want to ask you, did you live in the same room with your son Yang Guan?"
"Your Excellency, my son lives in the room next to yours."
"Then are you sure that your son was at home that night?"
"Sir, before I heard Xia Niang's mother yelling, I heard my son coughing several times. He was sleeping at home the whole time. He definitely didn't kill Xia Niang. Sir, my son is innocent..."
Wang Liu on this side immediately shouted: "You are lying! Sir, how can you believe her words? She said so to protect her son. When Yang Guan went to steal chickens and dogs in the past, she always said that it was not her son who stole it? Sir..."
"Silence!" Yu Chenglong shouted in a deep voice, "Wang Liu, don't speak before I ask you a question, or I will punish you for causing disturbance in the court."
Qin Mu had not spoken until now. Overall, what Wang Liu said was not enough to prove that Yang Guan was the murderer. Even if he had done some sneaky things in the past, it could not be concluded that he had killed someone just because he had a bad character.
Yang Liu's one-sided statement cannot be fully trusted. In order to save her son's life, she was sure that she might have given false testimony in order to exonerate her son.
At this time, adhering to the "presumption of guilt" or "presumption of innocence" will lead to completely different results.
If the case is tried according to the original "presumption of guilty" approach, then if you cannot prove that you are innocent, then you are guilty.
If the trial is based on the "presumption of innocence", then if you cannot prove that the defendant is guilty, then he is innocent.
At this time, Yu Chenglong turned to Xia County Magistrate Guan Pei and asked, "Zhizhi County Guan, you personally led the investigation of the scene. I have read the case file and found that apart from the bloodstains on the window of the room where the crime occurred, there is no evidence such as footprints at the crime scene. What's going on?"
Guan Pei unconsciously glanced at the emperor sitting at the head of the table, and answered cautiously: "Your Excellency Yu, you don't know that when I arrived at Linyao Village with the yamen runners the next day, the crime scene had been destroyed by ignorant villagers. The victim's body had been moved, and the house was full of villagers' footprints, overlapping and difficult to identify. There was a grassland outside the victim's back window. The weather has been sunny for more than ten days, and the snow on the ground has melted, leaving no footprints. There was only a little blood on the window, proving that it was left by the murderer."
Yu Chenglong nodded, and then asked someone to present the physical evidence. It was an ordinary dagger with a wooden handle four inches long and a dagger body about five inches long. The bloodstains on the dagger had turned purple-black.
Guan Pei continued, "Yang Guan's house was thirty-five steps away from the crime scene. The dagger was found in the bushes in the backyard of Yang's house. After comparing the blade with the wound on the victim's neck, it matched exactly. In addition, the blood on the dagger was enough to prove that it was the murder weapon, and it also proved that Wang Liu's statement that she saw the murderer fleeing in the direction of Yang Guan's house was true."
Yu Chenglong asked, "County Magistrate Guan, can you find the blood-stained shirt at Yang Guan's house?"
"No, but according to my inference, the murderer must have covered the victim's mouth and nose with the quilt when he killed her, because Wang Cheng and Wang Liu, who were sleeping in Rongbi, did not hear their daughter's screams. From this, it can be inferred that if the murderer acted quickly, there would not necessarily be blood stains on her clothes."
Yu Chenglong then asked Wang Liushi, "Wang Liushi, you were the first one to enter your daughter's room. Do you still remember the details of the scene in the room at that time?"
"My lord... wuwuwu... my poor daughter is in such a miserable state. When I saw the shadow running away, I shouted in haste, but there was no response from my daughter. After turning on the light, I saw that the bed was covered in blood, and the quilt that had fallen under the bed was also covered in blood. My poor daughter's clothes... wuwuwu..."
Seeing that Wang Liu was heartbroken, Yu Chenglong turned to Guan Pei and asked, "County Magistrate Guan, are there any scratches on the body of the deceased?"
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.(To be continued..)
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