At the service station, Lu Ming came to work early in the morning.
Looking at the list of judges for the special military court and the list of prosecution and defense lawyers that were quickly finalized last night, Lu Ming couldn't help but shake his head.
There were three judges, and he was one of them. The other two were Brigadier General Shefton, vice-president of the Home Guard Academy, and Major General Brown, deputy chief of staff of the National Guard.
The lawyer defending Cynthia is Liu Hanming.
The prosecution lawyer is military lawyer Kanhara.
As a judge, I and the defense lawyer Liu Hanming belong to the same law firm.
Military courts are sometimes so foolish.
However, the three military court systems in the East China Sea are similar to those of a certain Western power in his previous life, but the East China Sea Military Court is better than that of that Western power. In the military court of that Western power, the commander of the military personnel involved in the case has the final say, that is, no matter what the court decides, the commander still enjoys a wider discretion. He has the right to decide to reduce the punishment of the criminal soldiers or even revoke the conviction.
Therefore, the frequent scandals in the country's military have their deep-seated reasons.
As for the present case, because the deceased had committed numerous crimes, the high-ranking military officials in the East China Sea have the intention to protect those involved.
The sporadic reports from the public also gave a vague impression that the deceased deserved the punishment, which was one of the reasons why this special military tribunal was set up so carelessly.
In the school's files, the excuse Cynthia used when skipping class in the third group was that she was undergoing investigative training, and this was tacitly acknowledged. In this way, Cynthia was guilty of harming civilians during military action, thus avoiding the possibility of the deceased applying for civil court intervention.
Because according to East China Sea law, even if the person is a soldier, the civil court has the right to try crimes against civilians committed during non-military operations.
From a legal perspective, although Cynthia and others used the investigation training as an excuse for skipping classes, since they had reported it to the instructor openly and had Mary's approval at the time, there was no problem with the procedure.
Lu Ming looked at the file and wondered how he would judge if the prosecutor attacked this point.
Will it be ruled that this case does not fall under the jurisdiction of the military court
It's hard to say. It depends on whether the prosecutor can convince himself that there is a clear line between the military academy's curriculum procedures and the students' behavior of skipping classes.
To prove that the students are indeed skipping classes.
As for what he knew in advance, if he were sitting in the judge's seat, he should pretend that he had not heard anything Mary and the students said to him, and instead judge the case based on the evidence presented by both the prosecution and the defense.
In fact, since I knew a lot of inside information in advance and had conducted a preliminary assessment of the case, I should not have been one of the three judges. However, military courts are sometimes not rigorous. This is not something that was formed overnight, and it cannot be changed overnight.
Just as I was thinking about it, music started playing on the hour from the wall clock.
Lu Ming looked up at the time and said, "Remind me at eleven o'clock. I have to attend the wedding banquet."
Today, February 29th, is also the big day for Liu Laocai’s wedding.
"Yes!" the two young clerks agreed crisply.
"Huh? Come in!" Lu Ming smiled and waved to the person who was peeking at the door.
She was wearing a blue denim skirt with suspenders, light white pencil pants that wrapped around her slender legs, and a baseball cap. She looked very youthful and beautiful. It was Kim Mi-yeon.
After not seeing her for a few months, she seemed to have become less childish and more like a beautiful girl.
"Oh..." Jin Meiyan pushed open the glass door, bowed to the two officers, and then came to Lu Ming: "Uncle..."
Lu Ming asked: "Do you have something to talk to me about? Or are you here to see your relatives?" Jin Miyeon used to live here, and her relatives who once lived here still live in this community.
"I signed up as a volunteer. Today is my day off, so I came to see if there is any work?" Kim Mi-yeon said cautiously.
"Oh..." Lu Ming nodded. He had not paid attention to the list of volunteers.
Looking at Jin Mi Yan, it was obvious that the little girl was not here to find him, but because she noticed him, she was afraid to come in.
Lu Ming hesitated for a moment, and finally asked: "Where is your sister? Is she okay now?" He hadn't been to school for a long time. He didn't even go to the final exam before the New Year holiday. It was just when he won the election as a congressman and was very busy. After the New Year, there were all kinds of things to deal with, and then he went to the Western Regions.
"She, she went to Hanzhou to attend university..." Jin Mi Yan said in a low voice, secretly looking at Lu Ming's expression.
Lu Ming was stunned: "You've only been in junior high school for one year. What kind of university are you in? Specially recruited? You're not a liar, are you?"
"He shouldn't be a liar. He was recommended by Mrs. Fernald. He's from Hanzhou University, a specially recruited seventh-year class, recruited before the New Year. Only thirty people were selected from the entire empire. I heard they are all young." Jin Miyeon answered cautiously, afraid that if she said something wrong, the anger would be taken out on her. She had advised her sister to ask Uncle Qianxing for his opinion, but there was no way she could persuade her sister to stop her from making up her mind.
Lu Ming frowned: "That old lady Fernand!" Then he burst into laughter. It was actually a good thing, but his reaction was not right. It was just because it was too sudden. He still had something to say to the little girl, but he didn't have time to say it.
Hanzhou University is a well-known brand and the only one among the top ten universities in the empire that is located outside the imperial capital and East China Sea.
Among the top ten universities in the empire, five are in the imperial capital, four are in the East China Sea, and the other one is Hanzhou University.
However, Hanzhou is a bit chaotic. It seems to have been the front line of the confrontation between the Western Kingdom and the Central Plains Empire. Nowadays, the ethnic groups are more mixed, and there are a large number of mixed-race people. It is a state with more peculiar customs and habits in the empire.
However, as a place where the north and the south meet, its economy is also relatively strong. Especially since the Imperial Railway runs from east to west and from north to south, it has developed rapidly as a transportation hub city.
Hanzhou, the capital of Hanzhou, is the third largest city in the empire.
Of course, as a metropolitan area, Donghai's economic size is second to none among all regions, states, and provinces. If compared with individual cities under the jurisdiction of individual states, they are not even on the same order of magnitude.
"She's over there. Has she written to you or called you? Are you used to it?" Lu Ming asked.
"It's fine. My sister was very happy when she called..." Jin Mi Yan quickly stopped talking and secretly looked up at Lu Ming.
Lu Ming was helpless. Did she think that he would feel that her sister had abandoned him? But he was too lazy to argue with a little girl and was about to speak.
Jin Meiyan added: "My sister has a letter to give to uncle. She said that when I see uncle in the future, if uncle asks, she will give the letter to you. If he doesn't ask, forget it. I have the letter with me! I originally wanted to give it to the sisters of the affairs officer. Whether uncle asks or not, I will pass it to you."
Jin Mi Yan took out a pink envelope from the small bag behind her back and handed it to Lu Ming.
Lu Ming took it and couldn't help laughing when he saw the beautiful cartoon pattern on the envelope. But when he thought about the little girl who was two thousand miles away, who was originally strong, brave, and optimistic, and might have encountered a very bad experience when she met him, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
"You can send her 10,000 yuan later. Oh, don't send it all at once. It's too dangerous for a young girl to carry so much money. Just send her 500 yuan every month. I'll have someone write you a check in advance at the beginning of the month."
Before Jin Meiyan could say anything, the wind chimes rang, and the two officers stood up and bowed respectfully, saying crisply, "Third Madam!"
The graceful beauty who came in from outside was Pamela, wearing a gorgeous and sexy black gauze dress that outlined her seductive body curves. Between her charming snow-white collarbones, the sapphire necklace was dazzling. She was tall to begin with, and a pair of black high heels supported the beautiful curve of her jade feet. The beautiful girl with blonde hair and blue eyes made all other colors in the room disappear.
Lu Ming subconsciously put the letter into his pocket and waved to Jin Mi Yan.
The person Kim Mi-yeon feared the most was Pamela, so she retreated to the side early and tiptoed out without even daring to greet her.
"You're a little early!" Lu Ming said with a smile. He had made an appointment with Pamela to attend Liu Laocai's wedding.
"Sorry to bother you?" Pamela said with a smile.
Lu Ming waved his hand, "What good news do I have?!" He walked out. When he passed by Pamela, Pamela naturally took his arm, raised her neck high, and walked beside him confidently and gracefully.
The two young clerks watched this scene with stars in their eyes. They were a truly talented and beautiful match, the envy of others.
But legend has it that the boss's second wife is more beautiful, but she never shows herself to others easily. She has a very traditional oriental taste.
I don’t know why, but when I think about these things, I don’t feel that the boss is unfaithful. Maybe it’s because the boss and his wives live in a high and mighty world, and at that level, ordinary people simply cannot understand.
…
Liu Laocai's wedding was held at Wolong Restaurant. Only some of his closest friends were invited, but it was a very grand wedding. In accordance with today's fashionable practices, he also invited reporters to take photos, bought advertising space, and published an advertisement in the newspaper to celebrate.
Liu Laocai's two sons also came uninvited and behaved very filially, running around and being very respectful to Hasang.
The entire Wolong Restaurant Club was decorated in red and was filled with joy.
A stage was set up in the open space in front of Wolong Restaurant. Liu Laocai invited famous northern artists to perform several operas from the afternoon to the evening.
Wolong Restaurant has expanded to include more than 20 courtyards. In addition, several thousand acres of riverside mounds and wasteland have been purchased, and a golf course and an equestrian club are being built.
Lu Ming's original wish of having a small private club was ruthlessly shattered.
However, the idea of my consultant who submitted the plan was right. The wasteland here is not worth anything at all nowadays.
However, with the development of the Wolong Bay area around the Freedom Building, a large number of people will soon flock in, and wide roads are being paved. By then, the Wolong Restaurant project will only need to build a dozen kilometers of road from the main road to turn Wolong Restaurant into a club with extremely developed transportation, secluded and beautiful scenery. Beiguan just lacks such a golf club and equestrian club.
Even if the traffic is smooth and the service quality is improved, the environment here will gradually attract wealthy people in the city to regard this place as their back garden for entertainment.
If not now, when will you buy land
In this way, the Wolong Restaurant project was quickly launched.
However, the No. 1 Courtyard here will naturally always be reserved for the big boss.
Lu Ming is now lying on the soft couch in the main room of this courtyard, preparing to take a nap and watch the show in the afternoon.
It is also rare to get together with Pamela. After all, Hanzhu can see her when she goes home. Pamela is really busy nowadays. She rarely spends time in Beiguan. Most of the time, she is in the office of Huaxia Group in the city, and she often goes on business trips to other places.
Nowadays, he is surrounded by people when he goes in and out, and there are more than a dozen female bodyguards.
He glanced at Pamela, who had just changed into white gauze pajamas and was covered with a thin blanket, lying comfortably beside him. He then looked at the clothes rack under the couch, where a purple cheongsam was hung. It was the outfit Pamela had prepared for watching the play in the afternoon. She had always been like this. When he first met her, she had a little income and changed clothes eight times a day. Now, she has become more restrained, but it is common for her to change three or four sets of clothes when attending different occasions in a day.
He reached out his hand, wanting to pinch her delicate face. With such a charming beauty lying next to him, he lost all desire to sleep.
But seeing her beautiful long brown eyelashes moving rhythmically, it was obvious that she had fallen asleep as soon as she lay down, I couldn't bear to disturb her.
She seemed to sleep particularly peacefully next to him.
There were footsteps outside, and Luo Shiliu's voice was very soft, "Master, the owner of the Sansheng Opera Troupe is here to ask you to select a piece for the play."
Luo Shiliu is also one of the Ditra slaves. He is stationed in the No. 1 Courtyard of Tianzi. He is considered the housekeeper of the No. 1 Courtyard and is responsible for taking care of the miscellaneous affairs of the No. 1 Courtyard.
After hearing what Luo Shiliu said, Lu Ming opened his mouth to speak, but then he glanced at Pamela beside him.
He slowly stood up, pulled on his shoes, walked to the door, took his coat and put it on, and walked out frowning: "This Liu Laocai, he is always making trouble. Go tell the troupe owner to sing whatever you want. If you really don't know what to sing, go ask Lao Liu."
It's easy to imagine that Liu Laocai said that he was the most distinguished guest and asked the owner of the troupe to ask for his opinion on what songs to sing.
It was really a shame to disturb the sweet dreams of myself and the Third Wife, even though I seemed to be just daydreaming.
Just as she was about to turn around after saying this, she suddenly stopped. She remembered that although Pamela had no interest in Zhongzhou opera, one time, when she was listening to a record with Hanzhu, she said that she found "Ever-Victorious Army" very nice, although she didn't quite understand what was being sung.
He nodded to Luo Shiliu and said, "Lead the way!"
The small room next to the moon-shaped gate is Luo Shiliu's residence. At this time, a pretty figure is standing outside the moon-shaped gate.
The screen wall in front of the principal room is extremely tall, and one cannot see what is happening in the principal room from here.
Next to the screen wall, a dark-skinned female figure with a box gun on her back stood with her hands behind her back.
Before Lu Ming reached the door, the man had already walked over quickly. He was a beautiful young woman, wearing a blue flowered jacket with plum blossom buttons, a green skirt and blue underpants, very traditional clothing. She slightly bent her knees and bowed: "Hello, Mr. Lu! I am Li Yumei, the foreman of the Sansheng class." Her voice was extremely tender.
Lu Ming nodded, sat down on the chair brought by Luo Shiliu, took the play list with red velvet cover handed to him by Li Yumei and started to look through it.
"Besides 'Ever-Victorious Army', what other songs are you good at?" Lu Ming asked casually.
Li Yumei said softly: "To answer your question, most of us actors are from Andong Province. There is a piece of music in our hometown called "The Red Robe", which tells the story of a red-robed judge who stood up for the loyal and good and beat the treacherous and cunning..."
Lu Ming nodded. Anton Province is the northernmost province of the Kingdom of Greifanni, and is adjacent to the four provinces in the northern region across the river.
The provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, which are very close to the four provinces in the northern region, have administrative regions called "provinces" and have less autonomy, or rather, no autonomy at all. They are more like local governments ruled by a centralized government. This should be due to the historical reason that the early imperial rulers were still guarding against the four provinces in the northern region from counterattacking and restoring the Zhongzhou Dynasty.
Further south of the Jiangnan provinces, even the traditional Central Plains gathering areas are all administrative regions at the "state" level, which are basically the same as the American Federation in the previous life, with basic local autonomy powers. In addition, many of them have had most of the autonomy since the feudal era as territories and principalities of various grand dukes, and this power has also extended to the present. Donghai is one of them.
And Andong Province is separated from the four provinces in the northern region by only a river, and the customs are very similar, which can be felt from Li Yumei's wording and etiquette.
This opera troupe was specially invited by Liu Laocai from Andong Province.
While thinking about it, he said casually: "Da Hong Pao? That's interesting. There is a kind of tea in my hometown named after it."
Li Yumei sighed softly, "Then I guess your hometown must be a clear and bright world. Even the fragrant tea can drive away evil spirits."
Lu Ming glanced at her and thought that this woman had an extraordinary way of conversation.
Unexpectedly, the beautiful young woman was crying, and suddenly she knelt down, "Sir, my husband was wrongly imprisoned three years ago and is still suffering in prison. Please help my husband!"
Lu Ming was stunned for a moment, and said helplessly: "What are you doing? This is not an opera, and I am not a Da Hong Pao. How can I decide to change the verdict? Let me tell you, our law is that if the jury finds guilty, it is basically impossible to appeal successfully, unless there is a problem with the legal procedure of the case..."
As if she didn't hear what Lu Ming said, Li Yumei had already taken out a piece of paper from her bosom and handed it to him with both hands. Looking at the large title, it said "Appeal".
"Get up quickly!" Lu Ming had no choice but to take the appeal letter handed over by Li Yumei and gestured to Luo Shiliu to pull her up.
After a quick glance at the contents of the complaint, I found out that Li Yumei's husband, Meng Xiaolou, was a handsome opera singer similar to the Zhengdan Qingyi role in her previous life. Three years ago, on the night of celebrating the birthday of the mayor of Jinyang City, Andong Province, the mayor invited Meng Xiaolou for a drink, but wanted to do something inappropriate. Meng Xiaolou accidentally pushed him out of the window and he fell and died.
Meng Xiaolou was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Lu Ming shook his head and said helplessly: "It's still Anton Province's case. I can't do anything about it."
Li Yumei knelt on the ground and could not get up. Luo Shiliu could not pull her up. She looked up at Lu Ming with tears in her eyes. "Sir, I have been advised by someone a long time ago. It is a senior lawyer in Anton. He found me recently and said that my husband may have a chance to get rid of the crime. He mentioned you and said that you are a genius. He studied all the cases you have fought and admired you very much. He said that if you are willing to help, my husband's case may have a chance to overturn the verdict."
"I was going to come to Donghai, but unexpectedly, Boss Liu invited me to the Sansheng Class. Isn't this God's will? I have already faded out of the Sansheng Class in the past few years. This time, I came to see you, sir. I hope you will have pity on me and my husband, who is suffering in prison..." As she said this, she burst into tears.
Lu Ming pondered over this case, which can actually be seen as a recognition of the three principles of self-defense. However, Anton
It’s too close to the four northern provinces.
Besides, I don’t have time to run around like this. There are so many unjust imprisonments in the world, how can I take care of them all
Besides, he was only a second-level lawyer in the East China Sea. It didn't matter in a place like the Western Alliance, where any junior lawyer in the empire could litigate. But in the Kingdom of Griffinni, he was not qualified to act as a legal agent across provinces before he was promoted to a fourth-level senior lawyer.
Even if I help, I will just work behind the scenes.
"Let me think about it. Don't cry here. It's not proper. What will outsiders think if they hear it?" As he said that, Lu Ming stood up and walked towards the backyard.
However, it seems that in the judicial community, my reputation has been growing day by day. In the eyes of some people, I have a reputation for setting things right, which should be considered a good thing.