Courtroom No. 1.
Lu Ming sat quietly, while Zhen, next to him, was fiddling with her charming and exquisite long nails out of boredom.
Lu Ming was helpless. This guy was really heartless. We are going to be hanged, do you know that
The prosecution came in, with four or five prosecutors carrying countless documents, making a grand scene.
Li Mingxuan sat down at the chief seat, and Lu Ming noticed the resentment in his eyes as he stared at him.
But when his eyes fell on Zhen, the feeling became complicated. There was shame, anger, hatred, but also love and reluctance.
Han Annie was the last one to enter and glared at Lu Ming fiercely.
Lu Ming smiled bitterly and rubbed his nose. "First love, first love, I'm so happy to see you here! Even if you beat me or kill me, and think I'm an adulterer, I will forgive you."
The jury came in, nine of them, both men and women, all dressed respectably.
Although jurors come from the public, they are subject to strict requirements. First of all, they must have a decent job.
There are also academic requirements.
This is the custom of the empire. Only legal citizens with stable jobs and a good education can achieve the prerequisite of fairness and justice.
Moreover, they were all selected from another city far away from Wu'an to avoid being influenced by local clans.
But they all seem a little listless now. This case lasted for several months and was a mental and physical torture for these jurors.
It was almost nine o'clock when three judges entered the room.
The presiding judge was a skinny old man with a hooked nose. In the fragments of memory, his name was Boris.
For such an important case, the presiding judge is naturally a Westerner, the chief judge.
Although the four northern provinces were autonomous under the four great military governors, many key positions were held by Westerners, from the county level to the chief judges of provincial and municipal procuratorates and courts.
In this world, Westerners call the Empire the Griffinni, and its full name is: The Holy Griffinni Federation Empire.
However, the indigenous people, because the Griffinni came from the southwest, used to call them Westerners.
At nine o'clock sharp, Boris brought down the gavel and the trial officially began.
"In court, I request to change my lawyer!" Lu Ming suddenly stood up, "My lawyer failed to do his best to defend me!"
Xie Wenquan was stunned and looked up at Lu Ming blankly.
Li Mingxuan immediately stood up and said, "Objection, in court, the defendant is just trying to delay time. If the lawyer is changed, it will inevitably lead to the case being postponed again to give the defendant's new lawyer time to prepare. This case has been dragged on for too long. The defendant just wants to drag it on indefinitely, and this case has wasted too much public money and court resources. The prosecution strongly opposes the defendant's tricks!" Li Mingxuan said righteously.
Boris nodded, "The defendant's motion is rejected!"
Lu Ming said: "In this case, I request to defend myself."
Everyone was stunned again.
"First defendant, you are aware that if you choose to defend yourself, your legal rights and interests will be more difficult to protect. I don't want you to easily find an excuse to appeal." Boris stared at Lu Ming, then glanced at lawyer Xie Wenquan who was sitting over there. He thought that it was the bewitching lawyer who taught him, and in this way, he found a reason to appeal.
Lu Ming nodded, "In court, I have studied at St. John's University of Political Science and Law in the provincial capital, and I also have a lawyer's license, so I understand my rights and obligations after I adopt self-defense, and I am also capable of defending myself as a lawyer."
In fact, I haven't graduated yet, but I did use my connections to get my lawyer license early on. After all, the Lu family's influence was still there at that time.
Boris frowned slightly, looked at Lu Ming, then at Xie Wenquan and Li Mingxuan, and waved.
Li Mingxuan and Xie Wenquan walked up, followed by Lu Ming, and the three of them stood under the high table of the judge's bench.
"What's going on?" Boris asked Xie Wenquan in a low voice, "Have you communicated fully with your client?!"
Xie Wenquan had no idea what Lu Ming wanted to do, but since he was doomed to lose the lawsuit, he didn't know if this Young Master Lu had received any advice, whether it was a desperate struggle or a desperate attempt. Of course, he had to stand in the interests of the client and help him achieve his intention.
After pondering for a while, Xie Wenquan said, "He didn't communicate with me at all. So, in court, it seems that I have lost the trust of my client. My client has a lawyer's license, so there is no reason for you not to let him choose to defend himself."
Behind him, Lu Ming nodded in his heart, Xie Wenquan is actually a good lawyer.
Li Mingxuan immediately frowned: "In court, they are just stalling for time..."
Boris waved his hand and looked at Lu Ming, "You can defend yourself, but you can only call two witnesses for the prosecution at most!"
There are hundreds of witnesses on both sides of the prosecution and the defense. If they change their defense, they have to be re-summoned one by one, which will take several months.
Lu Ming nodded: "Okay."
Li Mingxuan's expression relaxed when he heard Boris say that. When he saw Boris looking at him, he immediately said, "Your Honor, the prosecution has no objection."
Boris waved his hand, and the three of them returned to their seats.
"In court, I request to summon the prosecution witness Zhao Jinsong!" Lu Ming said loudly.
Sitting on a hard wooden chair surrounded by wooden fences on three sides, coupled with the solemn atmosphere of the courtroom, one cannot help but consider the serious consequences of perjury.
Zhao Jinsong was the detective who discovered Long Ye’s body in the trunk of the car.
He was a young man, looking very handsome in his black police uniform. He sat in the witness stand and took the oath with a righteous look on his face.
Lu Ming quickly read his testimony again, slowly stood up, and walked in front of Zhao Jinsong.
Zhao Jinsong adjusted the discipline buttons of his police uniform and looked at Lu Ming with some disdain.
This dandy prodigal son, who was a drunkard, a gambler and a smoker, had nothing good to offer except that his family was relatively well-off. Unfortunately, the girl he secretly loved was given a bottle of foreign perfume by him and he broke her virginity. He had wanted him dead for a long time.
Lu Ming looked at him and asked calmly, "Witness, what is your relationship with the prosecution's tainted witness Zhao Yuancheng?"
Zhao Yuancheng, Long Daxing's driver, was supposed to take Lu Ming and Zhen home, but now he has become a tainted witness.
Zhao Jinsong shook his head. "It doesn't matter."
"You are relatives, aren't you?" Lu Ming stared into his eyes. "It seems that you are used to lying."
Zhao Jinsong immediately became furious. This bastard who was about to be hanged was still as arrogant as before. This was simply intolerable. "You're talking nonsense!"
The jury was immediately in an uproar.
Before Lu Ming could raise any objections, Boris frowned and said, "Witness, you only need to answer the defense's questions. If you continue to abuse the defense, I will disqualify you from being a witness."
Li Mingxuan quickly stood up and said, "In court, Zhao Jinsong and Zhao Yuancheng are only distant relatives. Moreover, their ancestors became enemies because of the distribution of property. They have never had any contact with each other since they died. In this generation..."
"Objection!" Lu Ming raised his hand. "Court, now is the time for the witness to testify."
Boris gestured to Li Mingxuan, who sat down reluctantly, but kept winking at Zhao Jinsong, signaling him to stay calm.
Li Mingxuan frowned as he glanced at Lu Ming who was pacing in front of the witness stand.
Lu Ming's intention was very clear. He wanted to confuse people and make the lawsuit appear as if Zhao Jinsong and Zhao Yuancheng had planned it in advance and Zhao Yuancheng was Zhao Jinsong's insider. If this was the case, Zhao Yuancheng's confession would be greatly discounted. After all, he did not witness Lu Ming and Zhen killing the victim with his own eyes. If they were police officers, the jury would definitely wonder if everything was arranged by the police.
After all, Zhao Yuancheng was driving the car, so it was easy for him to put the body in. Even if there was a knife with Lu Ming's fingerprints in the car, it was just a fruit knife. The defense used this to make a fuss, saying that the knife was used by Lu Ming to cut fruit at Long's house, and was put in the car to frame him.
At that time, there was that Western lawyer named Donald, who was very powerful.
While he was thinking about it, he saw the beautiful female police officer next to him who came from the provincial capital and was said to have a strong background was about to stand up.
This police officer Han particularly hates playboys, let alone those like Lu Ming who hooked up with other people's concubines and killed their husbands.
However, closing arguments are about to begin, so from now on, I have to take full control and not let her steal the limelight.
"Captain Han, let me do it!" Li Mingxuan said in a low voice.
Li Mingxuan is very confident.
He had carefully considered every detail of this case, including the fact that Zhao Jinsong and Zhao Yuancheng were distant relatives.
However, Long Daxing’s previous defense lawyer, the Western lawyer Donald, did not take this point into consideration, making his careful preparation useless.
Li Mingxuan was secretly happy when Lu Ming asked this question, but he didn't expect that Zhao Jinsong, a young and cutting-edge police officer, looked down on Lu Ming and actually started to curse him when Lu Ming questioned his character.
This was completely unexpected for him.
Li Mingxuan looked at Xie Wenquan in the defense seat again.
At this time, Xie Wenquan was watching these scenes and guessing Lu Ming's intentions.
In Li Mingxuan's eyes, Xie Wenquan's face was full of calmness.
Li Mingxuan gritted his teeth. This was a tough opponent. He must have anticipated that Lu Ming would interrogate Zhao Jinsong and accuse Zhao Jinsong of character issues, which would anger Zhao Jinsong, so he let Lu Ming defend himself.
But it was unexpected that Lu Ming could remember these words and how to anger Zhao Jinsong.
It seems that when people are forced into desperate situations, they will really unleash their greatest potential.
After taking a deep look at Lu Ming, a cold light flashed in Li Mingxuan's eyes.
As expected, I was right. You should be doomed to eternal damnation and never be able to get out of this situation.
Being able to send you to the gallows with my own hands is something I vowed to do since I was very young, and today, the time has finally come.
Even though you are the one who got yourself into trouble, you actually, actually... killed someone for her...
Li Mingxuan glanced at the beautiful figure that was out of tune with the courtroom atmosphere, and his heart ached again.