Chapter 199 - 122: Confidence? No, Arrogance

’Didn’t look at the evidence?’

’You came to a court hearing without even looking at the evidence?’

’You dare to argue a case without reviewing the public evidence disclosure? You didn’t even get the specific details from your own client?!’

Presiding Judge Wang Cheng was stunned.

He was utterly and completely stunned.

At the start of the trial, he had assumed the opposing counsel’s confidence stemmed from having the ability to refute everything and a solid angle of attack for the case.

But...

Now, he realized.

’It turns out this isn’t confidence, it’s pure arrogance and ignorance!!!’

"Evidence? What evidence?"

Sun Li felt a sense of foreboding. She asked instinctively, her gaze sweeping around the courtroom.

To her dismay, the two lawyers at the plaintiff’s table were watching her with keen interest. Their expressions... were enough to make anyone’s heart race with panic.

"The plaintiff’s evidence!"

On the judicial bench.

Citizen Assessor Xu Family couldn’t take it anymore and spoke up to remind her.

Theoretically, this sort of question was part of the pre-trial verification, a time when each party is supposed to personally confirm their own readiness.

It wasn’t the judge’s job to chase them down and clean up their messes!

But with this case... they just couldn’t help themselves.

How could this lawyer act so clueless, resorting to baseless arguments? She even had the audacity to turn the tables with false accusations!

After all, this was evidence so solid that if it were presented by the defense in a criminal trial, not even the prosecutor would dare question it.

And yet, this lawyer did!

"I..."

Sun Li’s gaze flickered between the judicial bench and the plaintiff’s table. For some reason, the panic in her heart intensified, and her breathing grew heavy.

’How is this case... not going at all like I’d planned?’

After a long moment,

Sun Li finally bit the bullet and stammered,

"Presiding Judge..."

"I request to call up the evidence presented by the plaintiff!"

’She didn’t look...’

’It’s confirmed. She really didn’t look at the evidence!’

’Besides, the trial has already started! Who’s going to go fetch the evidence for you?!’

Judge Wang Cheng’s eyes widened in horror. He was deeply shaken; he’d never encountered anyone like this before.

In theory, evidence is what determines the likelihood of winning a trial.

The entire trial process revolves around invalidating the opposing party’s evidence while reinforcing your own. This holds true even if a case goes all the way to the High Court.

Therefore, in addition to being skilled at investigating, a lawyer must obtain the opposing party’s evidence before trial. You must analyze their angles of attack, anticipate their arguments, and scrutinize the evidence for yourself to explore all possibilities.

Take Xu De’s previous two cases, for example.

If one were to recall them carefully, they would realize... every single argument revolved around that one word: ’evidence’!!!

But now...

He was faced with a ’real piece of work’ who had come to trial without even glancing at the opposing evidence!

"There’s no need to call for it!"

"Counsel for the defendant, this is the detailed file for the criminal case from the night of January 8th—the ’Home Like a Hotel Incident’—which my client obtained from the police prior to this hearing!"

At the plaintiff’s table,

Xu De suddenly spoke up. A smile touched his lips, but his eyes were fixed on Sun Li, making her blood run cold.

And...

’A criminal case?’

’How could the Home Like a Hotel incident be a criminal matter?!’

’Wasn’t it just a civil matter? A false alarm about human trafficking that turned into catching a cheating spouse?’

’In fact, for a mix-up like this, if I had just focused on the psychological distress to my client... I could have made Wang Yu pay out even more!’

’So why is the opposing counsel calling it a criminal case now? And why isn’t the judge correcting him?!’

Sun Li’s breathing suddenly grew labored.

She clenched her fists and glanced instinctively at Yang Chunping beside her. A flicker of panic crossed Yang Chunping’s face, but she quickly masked it with a fa?ade of composure.

The next second,

Xu De began to speak.

"Counsel for the defendant, you just made four points."

"First, that the events at the Home Like a Hotel do not constitute factual evidence of the defendant, Yang Chunping’s, infidelity, but were rather part of an ’artistic creation.’"

"Second, you claimed that the plaintiff subjected the defendant to emotional abuse."

"Third, that the plaintiff’s false police report caused severe psychological trauma to the defendant, Yang Chunping, warranting compensation."

"And fourth..."

Xu De looked at her, his eyes narrowing slightly as he spoke.

"The issue of the child, Wang Xiaoyu’s, psychological and physical well-being!"

"As it happens, the police information my client has obtained can answer every single one of those points."

With that said,

he didn’t hesitate for a moment.

He held out his hand slightly, and Lin Yue, understanding at once, took the prepared evidence from her briefcase and placed it in his hand.

"First, Counsel, let’s hear the police’s reasoning for how they classified this incident,"

Xu De began.

A case’s classification requires justification, and as for the Lusen City Police Department...

Xu De paused, then looked down at the document in his hand and began to read aloud slowly:

"On January 8th, at 9:00 PM, the Lusen City Criminal Investigation Division, in coordination with the local precinct, dispatched officers to conduct a raid on the Home Like a Hotel."

"During the raid, two young adults engaged in an indecent act were discovered at the location and interrupted by the police."

"A four-year-old child, male, by the name of Wang Xiaoyu, was rescued during this operation."

Generally, case files are written after a case has been concluded.

For the word ’rescued’ to still be used after the case was closed and the ’false alarm’ was over... well, that left a lot to the imagination.

But Xu De was considerate enough not to leave them guessing. He continued,

"According to the police report, the rescued party, Wang Xiaoyu..."

"...was found by doctors to have an overdose of a substance in his system, which had rendered him unconscious!"

"It is theorized that the victim, Wang Xiaoyu, was forced to ingest an adult dosage of sleeping pills. The potent medication caused a disruption of his body’s neurotransmitters and damaged the sleep-regulating neurotransmitters in his brain!"

"Furthermore, cerebral hypoxia and necrosis have resulted in a permanent, minor decline in his cognitive functions!"