Yuelai Teahouse is an ancient two-story wooden building. At this moment, Lu Ming was chatting with someone in the private room on the second floor.
Sitting opposite the wooden table was Li Guan, and on the other side was a middle-aged man in a cheap suit. He was Cheng Lingyu, the senior prosecutor of the Donghai Xinfa District Procuratorate. He had a square face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and one could tell at first glance that he had a very serious personality.
Lu Ming didn't expect that Li Guan would make an appointment with someone else, and the conversation with Cheng Lingyu became awkward after just a few words, as if they were not on the same page.
Cheng Lingyu has a lot of prejudice against defense lawyers, especially those who have participated in criminal cases. He has an almost paranoid resentment towards them. Even in front of Lu Ming, he used the old-fashioned derogatory term for lawyers, "litigation lawyer".
Li Guan smiled, as if he could not see any sparks flying between the two parties. He said to Lu Ming, "Don't you have new ideas about the Kato Masakazu case? Talk about it now, otherwise, it will be too late. Because of insufficient evidence, I am afraid that Kato Masakazu will not be allowed to return to the country."
Lu Ming frowned slightly. He didn't know what the police knew exactly, but it seemed that there was no conclusive evidence. It was probably similar to what was reported in the media. The bodies of several boys who were said to have been murdered were not found, and the only surviving boy had become mentally abnormal due to severe shock and was unable to testify in court.
In the case of Kato Shoichi's murder of a boy in Nakasu, it seemed that all the evidence came from Kim Jung-yeong's revelations.
The outline of Jin Zhengyi's explosive article is that he originally wanted to track down the gossip about Kato Masakazu pursuing a movie star, so he lurked beside Kato Masakazu. However, he did not expect that he, as a butler, would quickly gain Kato Masakazu's trust by deliberately trying to please Kato Masakazu. Thus, he discovered the underground secret room in Kato Masakazu's house, as well as the horrifying and cruel incident.
With his help, the surviving boy was able to escape. He took him to the hospital and called the police.
Moreover, the information of this brutal murder was mailed to all popular newspapers and periodicals as soon as possible.
He was very smart and thought that if he had an accident, everyone in the world would know about it. Then, everyone would suspect that he was murdered to silence him.
However, the other party was cruel and unscrupulous, so he still died in an inexplicable car accident.
Moreover, the murderer who killed him will be able to return home safely because there is insufficient evidence to prosecute him...
"Did the police find a secret room in Kato Masakazu's house?" Lu Ming asked with a frown.
Cheng Lingyu seemed not to hear Lu Ming's words and drank his tea slowly. It was not until Li Guan coughed that he snorted, "There is a secret room, but it is full of miscellaneous items. There are no torture instruments at all, and there are no signs of death. No blood stains were found."
"Where is the driver who hit and killed Jin Zhengyi?" Lu Ming asked again.
"He was a lung cancer patient. After hitting someone, he jumped into the river. His family immigrated to Yingzhou half a month ago." Cheng Lingyu gritted his teeth.
Masakazu Kato was very arrogant and behaved in all kinds of ways. He even told the police without any reservation that he was the one who killed the man.
However, from the perspective of legal procedures, there is nothing that can be done to him.
Perhaps after the trial, the jurors will judge based on their emotions that the car accident was related to Masakazu Kato.
But as of now, there is simply no crucial evidence that would give the court reason to rule that Kato Masakazu is a suspect.
Lu Ming was silent.
Cheng Lingyu looked at Li Guan and said, "Aunt Li, I don't think Lawyer Lu has any good ideas. There are still a few hours before the deadline. I will look for some clues."
I almost said that time is precious and you are wasting my time.
Obviously, he looked down upon Lu Ming, the rookie lawyer. As for the youngest second-tier lawyer in the history of Beiguan, in his opinion, it seemed that Li Guan was just taking care of his nephews and nephews. He was afraid that he had used up all the reputation he had accumulated over the years to come up with such a 19-year-old second-tier lawyer by taking shortcuts.
Li Guan, who was always respected, also started to do the same thing when he met his nephews and nieces whom he could not refuse, which made him feel even more annoyed.
"Li Guan, Cheng Jian, I should be able to help you. Please wait for a moment while I go back to get some things."
Li Guan's eyes lit up, "Go, go quickly!"
Cheng Lingyu looked at Li Guan helplessly. How much magic potion had this old lady been fed? All the prosecutors in our branch have been working day and night hoping to find some evidence to allow the court to file a case, but the hope is getting slimmer and slimmer. Just this kid said he could help, and you believe him
Are you still my aunt who threw the gavel at the seducing lawyer
"Do we really have to wait for him?" Cheng Lingyu asked helplessly.
Li Guan glared at him, "Why, you feel annoyed by me after spending too much time with me, old lady? I kicked you a few times too much back then, and you still hold a grudge against me?"
Cheng Lingyu was helpless and dared not say anything more.
Not long after, Lu Ming turned around and handed the file bag in his hand to Cheng Lingyu.
"Mr. Li, if you are sure that you will not be the one to preside over this case, you can also take a look." Lu Ming nodded to the little old lady who was a little impatient.
Li Guan immediately snatched the file bag, untied the string in a few deft movements, and took out the contents, which were the dozen or so photos.
Li Guan, who was originally very excited, suddenly became angry. After looking at the photo for a few seconds, he threw it to Cheng Lingyu.
Cheng Lingyu looked at the photos one by one, and then looked at Lu Ming in shock: "These photos? How did you get them?"
"Jin Zhengyi hid it in a locker at the Wuyoumei Supermarket. I found it by accident."
Lu Ming did not mention that he had been to Jin Zhengyi's house. It was not that he used illegal procedures to collect evidence. When he obtained the evidence, it had nothing to do with the prosecution, so there was no problem with the evidence collection procedure.
For example, if the police rashly break into a suspect's door without a search warrant, they are certainly breaking the law. However, if a civilian kicks the door open and rushes in to obtain some key evidence, and the police then arrest the person who broke into the house and obtain the evidence he produced, then that is stolen property and can be legally detained without violating any procedures.
Lu Ming did not mention it because the key he got from Jin Zhengyi's house was something the police could not find. If he found it himself, the prosecutor's office would be angry and blame the police for their poor performance. Then, he would become an enemy in the eyes of the police, especially the evidence collecting personnel that day.
There is no point in offending people for no reason.
Cheng Lingyu naturally knew that Lu Mingyan was not sincere, but at this moment it didn’t matter where these photos came from.
He looked at the photo and frowned. "It looks like it's not fake. The location is the Japanese underground secret room, but we didn't find any blood or bodies there. The murdered boy may be one of the boys that Jin Zhengyi mentioned who was tortured and killed, but we didn't find any body, and we don't even know his name."
Lu Ming smiled and said, "At least, it should be able to pass the court hearing, and the court will have grounds to file the case for trial."
"Yes!" Cheng Lingyu nodded and stood up hastily, "I'll go submit the application right away!" He took two steps to the door curtain of the private room, suddenly stopped, turned around and said, "Aunt Li, I'm leaving!" He glanced at Lu Ming again and said softly, "Thank you!"
Then he lifted the door curtain and walked out quickly. Hearing the urgent sound of footsteps on the stairs, he left in a hurry.
"Little guy, you did a good job!" Li Guan stared at Lu Ming with his eyes eagerly, "What are you waiting for? Go back and prepare. If you lose this case, I tell you, you will regret meeting an old lady like me!"
"Inspector Cheng..." Lu Ming had just said two words when he was interrupted by Li Guan, "Does he have any reason to refuse now? You just need to go quickly!"
When the old lady gets impatient, she really is impatient.
Lu Ming had no choice but to get up and say goodbye.
Listening to the slow footsteps outside, Li Guan wanted to rush out and push the little bastard downstairs to run a few steps.
But then, he couldn't help but laugh, shook his head, watched Lu Ming get on a rickshaw from the window, sighed softly, and didn't know what he was thinking.