Chapter 830: Direct Evidence

The prosecutor in Little Rock was almost speechless for a while by He Zhichu.

His lips quivered rapidly, and a series of meaningless syllables came out of his throat, expressing his anger.

But He Zhichu just looked at him calmly, with cold and mocking eyes in his twinkling peach blossom eyes.

The assistant next to the prosecutor quietly tugged on his sleeve, and the prosecutor came back to his senses, gave He Zhichu a hard look, and continued to question the housekeeper.

"Mr. Steward, please tell me about the day the Vanderbilt's house caught fire."

The housekeeper walked to the witness stand with a dejected look on his face, and said bitterly, "That day was no different from any other time. Mr. Vanderbilt went out for a walk with his dog after dinner. Then..." He suddenly turned around and pointed at the defendant sitting in the dock. Ye Xuan gritted his teeth and said: "Then there is this bastard! He has been pestering our husband for several days! At the beginning, he secretly pretended to be a passer-by to spy on our husband, but later our husband found out, so he pestered our husband without knowing it. What to do, after being rejected by my husband, he became angry, set fire to the house, and killed everyone in our husband's family!"

As soon as the steward's words came out, there was an uproar in the courtroom.

The six members of the jury had different expressions, and they all looked thoughtfully at Ye Xuan in the dock.

The people in the gallery had already started to accuse Ye Xuan angrily.

These people were all neighbors in the neighborhood of Vanderbilt's house, and they had a good relationship with this family. Seeing their innocent and tragic deaths, including four children, they hated Ye Xuan even more.

One even stood up to him publicly and called him "Demon! You'll get your way!"

He Zhichu looked back, and gave the person who made the booing coldly.

The judge knocked on the gavel expressionlessly, "No noise is allowed in the courtroom, please let the person who shouted loudly just now go out."

Several bailiffs came over and kicked out the person who just stood up and called Ye Xuan a "devil".

At this time, everyone was much quieter, and no one spoke casually.

The prosecutor calmed down the agitated butler, then walked up to Ye Xuan, and asked with a triumphant expression of secret joy, "Mr. Ye, have you ever spied on Mr. Vanderbilt? You just need to answer yes or no."

Ye Xuan thought for a while, he did observe Mr. Vanderbilt for a few days before meeting him.

Because he was not sure whether Gu Yanran's words were true or false, of course he had to confirm first.

But if he answers yes, it proves that he is "peeping".

Voyeurism and observation are two completely different concepts that can seriously mislead jurors.

Ye Xuan looked at He Zhichu before answering.

He Zhichu showed no expression, as if it didn't matter no matter how he answered, there was a sense of calmness and leisure.

This relaxed mood infected Ye Xuan, and he said calmly: "No."

"You lied?!" The prosecutor became even more excited, "Not only the housekeeper saw you spying on Mr. Vanderbilt, but also other people. With all the witnesses, how dare you argue?!"

Ye Xuan didn't speak anymore, because He Zhichu had already stood up and defended him: "Your Excellency, the prosecutor, before you assert that my client is lying, please explain the definition of 'peeping'."

Prosecutor: "..."

"Prosecutor, please answer my question." He Zhichu calmly asked him to answer again.

Even the judge looked at the prosecutor.

The prosecutor thought about it carefully, and said intermittently: "Peeping is the act of peeking at other people's privacy without their permission."

He Zhichu nodded, walked up to the housekeeper, and said, "Mr. housekeeper, where was my client when you saw Vanderbilt 'peeping'?"

"...On the street." The butler replied blankly. "Many people have seen it. They can testify."

He pointed to his neighbors from the block who sat in the gallery.

Everyone nodded, indicating that the butler was right.

He Zhichu's face was solemn, and his cold eyes swept across the faces of everyone in the court. Some people couldn't help but lower their heads. After looking away, they turned back to look at the butler and said, "It was day or night. .”

"During the day, oh, it should be evening." The housekeeper hurriedly emphasized, "I just watched the cook tidy up the kitchen and came out to pick up Mr. Vanderbilt home."

"So, your husband revealed his privacy on the street in the evening?" He Zhichu twitched his lips, "May I ask what kind of privacy he revealed?"

"Objection! The defendant's lawyer is slandering the deceased's reputation!" The prosecutor immediately stood up, pointed at He Zhichu and reprimanded, "...Lawyer He is famous, yet he actually asks such a question! I never thought you were such a lawyer!"

He Zhichu stood quietly in the courtroom, his posture was straight, his posture was dignified and solemn, and his upright demeanor set off the oily-faced prosecutor next to him like a clown.

He waited slowly for him to finish before retorting: "Your Excellency the Prosecutor just now said that the legal definition of 'peeping' is the act of peeking at other people's privacy without their permission. My client is on the street during the day Seeing the deceased Mr. Vanderbilt, in this case, how can my client spy on the privacy of another person walking on the street? Unless that person is exposing his privacy."

The prosecutor was dazed by He Zhichu's series of question marks, and after a while, he realized that he had slapped himself!

He Zhichu took him in from the very beginning.

Let him explain what "peeping" is first, and then beat him with his own definition, it's really treacherous!

The prosecutor glared at He Zhichu, clenched his fists, and said incredulously, "Sneaking at others without their permission is voyeurism!"

"Wrong." He Zhichu shook his fingers, "According to the law, peeping must be called peeping. Since both of them were on the street at the time, and the deceased did not do any private acts, the prosecutor and Mr Steward alleging that my client was 'spying' on Mr Vanderbilt."

The judge nodded and tapped the gavel, "Prosecutors and witnesses, please pay attention to your words."

The prosecutor's first move was resolved by He Zhichu in this way.

He continued to ask the cook angrily, "May I ask what you were doing that day?"

The cook is not like the housekeeper. She has been in the kitchen or in her staff dormitory. She has never seen Ye Xuan at all. She just heard the housekeeper mention it a few times, and said honestly: "I am cooking. Clean up the kitchen and dining room. , the housekeeper came back first with the dog, and said that Mr. Vanderbilt saw the man who kept following him again, and the two were talking and arguing."

"Look here, is the man who quarreled with Mr. Vanderbilt here?" The prosecutor asked the cook to look for the man in the court.

The cook's gaze stayed on Ye Xuan's face curiously for a while, and finally she took it back and said, "I have never seen that person, nor have I heard his voice, but I only heard Mr. Steward mention that there is such a thing. One person, so I can't name anyone."

The cook refused to identify Ye Xuan, and the members of the jury immediately looked at each other.

The prosecutor's face was a little dark, and he questioned the neighbors in the same block.

Some of these people have seen Ye Xuan and remembered him, because they think he is very handsome...

But what they saw was no different from what Mr. Butler said. They saw Ye Xuan and Mr. Vanderbilt seem to have quarreled on the street, but they didn't know what they were arguing about.

The last witness to be questioned was Mr. Sheriff of the Little Rock Police Department.

He was calmer and tougher than the other witnesses.

The prosecutor was delighted when he saw him.

"Mr. Sheriff, may I ask that you arrested a Barbados man suspected of arson and murder in the early morning of October 29, is he in court?"

The sheriff gave Ye Xuan a hard look, and said in a low voice, "Yes, he is in this court, that's him." He pointed at Ye Xuan.

Ye Xuan looked down at the table in front of him, without looking at the sheriff at all.

"May I ask why you arrested him?"

"Because he was suspected of arson and murder of Mr. Vanderbilt's family! Heinous! Heinous!" the sheriff said decisively, with a righteous look on his face, which was very contagious.

Two jurors were almost brainwashed by his words, and began to think that Ye Xuan was guilty.

He Zhichu raised his hand, "No, Mr. Sheriff's words are only subjective, without any witnesses or material evidence, then arrest my client and detain him for more than 72 hours without reason. We reserve the right to claim compensation from the Little Rock police and Mr. Sheriff. s right."

"What did you say?! Complaints?!" The police chief was furious, leaned out from the witness stand, and yelled at He Zhichu: "Are you questioning my professional ability?! I have been a police chief for 30 years, and I have not been convicted questioned!"

"There is a first time for everything, Mr. Sheriff. From now on, you have to get used to being questioned." He Zhichu spread his hands, his eyes flicked across the faces of everyone in the courtroom, and finally fell on the Sheriff's face, "Mr. Sheriff , please tell me why you think Ye Xuan is the number one suspect?"

"It's very simple. He had a dispute with Mr. Vanderbilt before. After the dispute, he disappeared for four hours. During these four hours, Mr. Vanderbilt's family was brutally murdered and set on fire. This heinous situation The crime was done by this man!" The sheriff's words echoed inside and outside the court again, and everyone couldn't help listening.

One after another cast their eyes on Ye Xuan with scrutiny.

Ye Xuan still lowered his eyes and sat upright on the dock.

After the sheriff finished speaking, the prosecutor stood up and read out the charges against Ye Xuan in a high-spirited manner.

“…Ye Xuan, a Barbados man, was charged with arson at Vanderbilt’s home in Little Rock, Utah, on October 28, and murdered twelve members of his family. The judge and jurors are asked to consider the seriousness of the case and make an appropriate sentence. "

The prosecutor simply lays out the charges, and the defense's lawyer then cross-examines witnesses and examines evidence to refute the prosecution's allegations.

It was also because of the urgency of time that it was too late to explain the key points to Smith, and he was worried that Smith would not be able to adapt to the situation and mess up the interrogation, so He Zhichu chose to appear in court to defend himself.

He unhurriedly stood up from the dock, walked to the center of the court first, and gave a slight nod to everyone in a graceful manner.

Almost everyone in the court took a liking to him as soon as they saw him, except for the sheriff who turned his eyebrows coldly at him.

He Zhichu didn't see the sheriff's gaze, walked straight to the prosecutor, and said fluently in standard Oxford English: "Your Excellency, prosecutor, what are the direct witnesses and evidence for your accusation? I I didn’t see that you mentioned direct witnesses and evidence at all just now.”

"The direct witness is Mr. Housekeeper, and the evidence is the scene of the fire. What doubts do you have?" The prosecutor twitched his lips mockingly, no longer taking He Zhichu seriously.

He Zhichu walked in front of him calmly, stroking his chin with one hand, resting his other elbow with the other, and said thoughtfully: "It turns out that from the point of view of the prosecutor, four hours before the murder, I saw the murderer." It can also be called direct evidence. No wonder you only won 10% of the lawsuits and lost 90% of the lawsuits in your more than 30 years as a prosecutor.”

"You spitting blood!" The prosecutor didn't expect that He Zhichu would know his work performance ratio, and suddenly became angry from embarrassment, "You violated my privacy! I want to sue you!"

"Your Excellency, the prosecutor, as a public official, your work performance is not personal privacy, and taxpayers have the right to know the actual content." He Zhichu's voice cooled down, and he turned to look at the excited police chief, "And Mr. Sheriff, you use subjective assumptions instead of objective evidence to arrest people, which is a serious abuse of public trust."

When the prosecutor heard that He Zhichu related this matter to the issue of the police abusing public power, his heart skipped a beat, and he murmured that it was not good...

Sure enough, the faces of the jury members changed immediately, including the three men who had been dismissive of Ye Xuan, they all began to think about the issue raised by He Zhichu about the abuse of public power by the police.

"Jury members, the murder of Mr. Vanderbilt is very complicated. But the case involving my client is very simple. In short, he just appeared in an inappropriate place by accident, and was used and framed by others. , and this police chief, instead of arresting the real murderer, arrested my client based on hearsay and without any direct witness or material evidence, and refused bail for a time. ——If this is also possible, then the law Where is the dignity? Where are the personal rights of citizens?!"

He Zhichu's clear and clear voice landed resoundingly, every word was like a heavy hammer, hitting the hearts of everyone in the court.

The police chief was sweating profusely at He Zhichu's words, and hurriedly stood up to defend himself: "I did not abuse public power! I have evidence!"

"What evidence? A butler saw my client talking to Mr. Vanderbilt on the street in the evening? Is this also called direct evidence? If you reason like this, Mr. Butler is even more suspicious because he has spoken to Mr. Vanderbilt so many times. , I guess there was a dispute. And more importantly, Mr. Vanderbilt’s family was killed, but the housekeeper and the cook were safe. ——If you reason like this, you two are also suspected!”

He Zhichu pointed his finger at Mr. Vanderbilt's housekeeper and cook. The two were terrified and shouted in unison: "No! We didn't do it! You have no proof!"

"Now you know that I have no evidence? Mr. Butler, then you keep saying that my client murdered and set fire, where is your direct evidence? I remember you said in the police record that you didn't see who did it, Because you were asleep by then."

He Zhichu squinted his eyes, raised his jaw slightly, and looked indifferently at the sweaty Mr. Butler, "According to Mr. Sheriff's logical reasoning, you have no one to prove that you were sleeping at the time, so you are also suspected, and the suspect Bigger. Because statistics show that 99% of these family murders are committed by insiders.”

The butler stared at He Zhichu dumbfounded, wondering why he had suddenly changed from an important witness to an important suspect? !

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This is the second more 4300 words. Two updates today~~~ Please recommend tickets and monthly tickets!

What about your recommendation tickets? Vote unanimously! o(╯□╰)o.

PS: Dazhang Oh! Good night everyone! The Dianniang book review area is under maintenance, and it is said that it will not be available until after ten o'clock in the evening.

In addition, I posted a 500-word joke on Sina Weibo. If you want to read it, you can follow my Sina Weibo: Writer Cambrian.

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