Chapter 56 - Meeting The Villain (5)

Sunye parked the car in front of the court house. She barely made it on time and was already dressed in a black coat with two long red stripes on both sides. Not getting the time to fix her hair, she simply tied it into a long ponytail while putting light face powder on her face. Dabbing some lipstick on her lips, she headed for courtroom number 6.

Yang was seated at the prosecutor's table, looking over the documents while the defense had also arrived. Sunye glanced at the accused Seo Jinhee. A stylish woman in her late twenties, Seo Jinhee looked every bit as a supermodel. With her voluptuous figure and tall stature, she stood out among the crowd. Her oval face and small nose was the epitome of beauty standards, enough to make any other person feel inferior to her.

Their eyes met for a moment and Jinhee flashed Sunye a cryptic smirk before turning back to her lawyer. Sunye frowned but ignored the obvious jab and hurried over to sit next to Yang.

"You're almost late," he noted.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "It won't happen again."

"It better not," he said curtly with a nod. Sunye took the seat next to him. They went over the facts in the documents one last time before the judge arrived. A jury was seated on one side consisting of twelve persons and the audience were seated on their seats, whispering loudly about the case. Media was not allowed in but some of the civilians were allowed to see the case proceesdings.

A pair of heavy footsteps approached the courtroom and the judge entered the scene. Everyone went quiet and stood up in respect, waiting for the judge to take his seat. 

"This is Judge Kane Jeon," Yang whispered. "One of the most reputed judges in the country."

Sunye stared at the judge who had acknowledged the court and sat down. She had heard of this legendary figure but this was the first time actually seeing him in person. Judge Jeon was known to be a thorough professional and fair person. 

While there were judges who would be biased or easily swayed, Jeon only focused on having the correct facts. In his late sixties, he had been in the profession for over thirty years and even oversaw the trial of the palace coup. Despite the fact that many of the accused were his old friends and colleagues, he did not hesitate to send them to jail when the evidence pointed their way. It cemented his reputation as one of the most feared law makers in the country.

"Sit," the judge ordered. Everyone took their seats. Sunye was nervous about the proceedings. Yang had told her that she was only going to assist and not present any arguments but it did not make her feel any assurance. What if she messed up? Or something went wrong?

"The Prosecution may begin," Judge Jeon stated.

"Honorable Judge and ladies and gentlemen of the Jury," Yang addressed them. "Today, we are here to present the case of Jung Heenim, a very renowned investment banker, who is allegedly killed by his wife."

He pointed at Jinhee who was stoic and expressionless. "Seo Jinhee, has been accused of planning the murder of her husband for months. Her financial records show that she has been in heavy gambling debt and the life insurance from her husband would have repaid off that debt."

He took out a file and handed it to the plaintiff who put it in front of the judge. Jeon read it and passed it to the jury members. 

"The papers clearly indicate that the creditors had been pressuring Seo Jinhee to return the debt but she was unable to," Yang stated.

"Objection!" the Defense lawyer, Jung, spoke up. "My client is an international supermodel who has plenty of money of her own. She does not need insurance money to repay debts!"

"And yet, your client has not worked in the industry for over a year," Yang countered. "Her extravagant lifestyle has also been the point of contention between her and her husband. Her husband even cut off her access to their joint account."

"Objection denied," Judge Jeon said. "The defense will get their chance to speak. Please continue, Prosecutor Yang."

Yang nodded and took out a file containing the details of the joint account. The jury studied it and nodded in agreement with his point.

"On the day of the murder," Yang went on. "The accused stated that they had returned from the salon and was taking a shower when her husband was murdered. She came out of the shower to see that her husband lay dead in his study while the servants were also in different parts of the house, so they did not hear the commotion either. Whereas the truth is, Seo Jinhee was the one who killed her husband by stabbing him with a sharp object."

"Objection!" the defense raised. "There is no proof to state that my client committed the crime! No murder weapon was found at the premises. Jung Heenim was found merely ten minutes after his murder. Moreover, the mansion is almost ten acres big so it would be impossible for the murderer to look for a place to dispose of the weapon within that time frame!"

"Objection sustained," Jeon declared. "Prosecution is asked to proceed with caution."

"Apologies your honor," Yang said with a bow. Jeon turned to the Defense council.

"The Defense may present its case," he said. Jung stood up and shared a look of understanding with his client. Jinhee nodded and the case began.

"Your honor," Jung greeted. "The Prosecution came up with many accusations against my clients which I will be categorically addressing."

"First of all, the debt incurred by my client was actually incurred by her husband, Jung Heenim, in her name," he stated. He took out a file and presented it to the judge.

"As you can see that Jung Heenim's car's location along with cell phone tracking information shows him at the casinos the same night my client had allegedly visited," he went on. "Also, as per my client's social media tracking and car location, she was not in those casinos on any of the mentioned nights! But her husband had access to her accounts and using this information, he had been accruing the debts on her name. It is very much possible that Jung Heenim was killed by a disgruntled debt collector who hired a professional to do the job. Once Heenim died, the hitman was able to escape. We found the footprint of a man's shoes from the bushes."

He took out the crime scene photos and handed it to the judge and jury. Sunye also glanced through her copy of the photos and there indeed was a footprint in the bushes.

"Now I know that you all are thinking that it could have belonged to anybody, the defense went on. "But the gardener had watered the bushes that day so the ground near it was muddy. The killer escaped using that route, leaving this print. We had it checked by all the registered visitors and servants. We also included the footprints from Mr. Heenim's shoes. But none of them matched the print."

Jinhee let out a loud sniff, fixing her long straightened hair. Sunye glanced at her. She did not know why but there was something they were missing. Her gut feeling told her that a major clue was right in front of their eyes. But what was it?

"Mr. Heenim was found in his study, dead from stabbing around 11:10 AM," Jung continued. "While my client entered home at 11 AM and went straight to their bedroom to take a shower. She did not emerge until it was 11:20 AM. Once she came out of the bathroom, she heard the servants shouting to get help."

"Objection!" Yang interjected. "No one saw her going into the bedroom! The servants-"

"The house is over 10 acres big and the servants were scattered in different rooms!" Jung interrupted. "It's not uncommon for people living in big houses not to see each other very often. But the CCTV footage recovered from the site showed Ms. Jinhee entering the mansion at 11:00 AM."

"Objection denied," the judge said. "Defense, please continue."

"Minutes before his death, Heenim received a call from one of the most notorious debt collectors, Chase Youngjae," Jung stated. "Heenim owed him five million dollars and Youngjae made multiple threats to Heenim. The employees at Jung's firm had also stated that their boss received many warnings from the gangster. Clearly, he had a stronger motive to have Heenim killed whereas my client had none. She is rich and famous on her own! Why would she kill the man she had been married to for five years?"

"Objection your honor!" Yang stood up again. "My dear colleague seems to be forgetting that all date after 11:00 AM on the day of the murder has been erased. His client has smartly removed all evidence of her whereabouts on that day by destroying the camera controls."

Except for Jinhee's entry into the mansion, all other footage was erased, making it increasingly difficult for the Defense to build a case. It was the trump card of the Prosecution and Yang had every intention to hide the fact that a servant had accidentally destroyed the evidence.

"Ahh yes," the Defense seemed to recall. "The footage was destroyed when a servant spilt juice on the main machine and ended up erasing the hard drive in haste."

Yang and Sunye stared at Lawyer Jung in shock. Jinhee suppressed a smirk and glanced at Sunye. As if on instinct, Sunye looked at her first. Then her eyes darted to the audience.

Sitting on the front row was a smartly dressed man in his mid twenties. Unlike last night, his hair was cut. He hid all traces of the kind stranger and was now a cool, calculative devil who was there to win his due. His blue eyes met hers.

"Hi again!" Hyunmin mouthed with a wink.