CH 27

Seated in a glass booth, Joshua Dale did not immediately understand what that hand gesture meant and was a little confused as to what was going on. He looked at Gu Yan, uncomprehending and uneasy.

Until Judge Murray Liu spoke, “Lawyer Gu, are you sure you wish to opt out of your opening statement?” 

Joshua Dale, “……………………”

He felt his heart, tethered to the waistband of his pants, had snapped and fallen to the ground; someone had even kicked it, and it bounced away. He slowly opened his mouth, but his brain had already imploded.

Opt out of the opening statement?! Are you kidding me?

He didn’t understand anything profound. He only knew that the court always had a back and forth—you say five points, I refute five points—to have the material to continue the debate to its end. But his lawyer ended up giving up one round as soon as he went up? 

The people at the back of the courtroom who had, with their documents, come to observe the trial went deafeningly silent for five seconds, then abruptly blazed with discussion.

It wasn’t that it was not permitted to opt out of the opening statement, but in these people’s limited experience as courtroom spectators, they had never seen this practice in reality. After all, opting out of one round meant giving up on a chance to convince the jury and the judge.

“Silence!” Murray Liu banged his gavel.

The courtroom once again returned to silence. Murray Liu peered down at the defence table.

Gu Yan nodded. “Yes.”

Amidst the stunned stares of the whole courtroom, only Yan Suizhi was relaxed and even approving.

A long time ago, he had once given his students some advice. He said, “It is useless to slam your argument point by point on a judge or jury when they themselves have pre-existing bias. Even if your words are impassioned, it may end up being counterproductive. There are some people who already have a preconceived outcome in mind and find it difficult to accept contrary statements. Especially if they aren’t open to persuasion, no matter how much reason you speak, they would refute you line by line in their heads. How do I put it… it’s probably a type of reverse psychology that makes them want to rebel at the drop of a hat.”

Rather than forcing the other person to accept your conclusion, why not throw out a lead, and let them draw that conclusion on their own? 

If it was something that they themselves thought of, would others still need to persuade them into it?

Just like in the present situation; for a judge like Murray Liu, for an unruly place like Wine City, giving up the opening statement was an excellent defence strategy.

It would even stimulate another type of reverse psychology in some people—the less you say, the more I want to hear.

Use retreat as an advance, use defence as an attack. 

Even if Gu Yan’s move wasn’t influenced by Yan Suizhi’s words from back then, Professor Yan was still very pleased.

This emperor, regally seated with his swollen leg, spun the electronic pen in his hand, and wrote a confident ‘A’ on the blank pages he had created.

As Gu Yan gave up the opening statement, the trial quickly proceeded to the next round.

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Joshua Dale stared from the glass booth. Thinking that he was mistaken, he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands, but the face of the man on the witness stand remained unchanged.

“The witness, Mr Fix Gore.” Murray Liu read out the other party’s name. “47 years old, ID no. W11992661882.” 

Fix nodded. “That’s me, Your Honour.”

“Taking the witness stand means that you will likewise need to be sworn in first,” Murray Liu slowly asked, “This court requires you to swear that you will say the truth to the best of your knowledge and nothing but the truth, not withholding anything.”

Fix nodded again. “I swear.”

Despite Joshua Dale’s astonishment at Fix’s appearance, Gu Yan and Yan Suizhi weren’t surprised. After all, they had seen the evidence presented by the prosecution at the pre-trial conference. As it turned out, while they were busy gathering new evidence, the prosecution hadn’t been idling about, and they had added several more pieces of evidence against Joshua Dale, including the footage recorded by the dashboard camera in Fix’s taxi. 

“Lawyer Lu,” Judge Murray Liu said to the prosecutor, “you may begin your examination.”

The prosecutor nodded and turned to Fix. He used this round as a direct examination, thus allowing the witness to present the facts for the prosecution as they answered the questions; the target audience being, of course, the jury.

“Fix Gore?” Lu nodded at him, “Are you the neighbour of the defendant Joshua Dale?”

Fix, “Yes. I’m neighbours to both Joshua and Kitty, to be exact.” 

Lu pulled up an overhead map on the courtroom’s huge holographic screen and marked out three houses. “This is Joshua Dale’s house, this is Kitty Bell’s house, and this is where you live; is this correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Lu, “How often do you see Joshua Dale?”

Fix, “Once or twice a day.” 

“Are you familiar with him?”

“Yes.”

“What’s your relationship like?”

“Occasionally lend a hand here and there.” 

“Does he help you or do you help him?”

Fix hesitated. “He’s still young.”

The underlying meaning was, “I help him more, but after all, he’s still a child.”

Lu glanced at the jury before continuing. “Were these videos captured on your dashboard camera?” 

As he spoke, he pulled up several videos on the holographic screen which automatically replayed several clips, each with a different date, but all with similar content, either of Joshua Dale climbing over the wall or already crouched on it.

“Is this Kitty Bell’s yard wall?”

Fix nodded. “Yes.”

“How did your taxi obtain these videos?” 

“It’s not actually my taxi. I drive it for the owner, only during the mealtimes at midday and in the evening. He would pull up to the mouth of this section of the alley and change shifts with me.” Fix said, “That section of the alley is difficult to make a turnabout, so I would always take a detour from this road and turn out the other end. I often stop for a while in that empty lot in front of Joshua’s and Kitty’s houses to finish my meal or have a cigarette to clear my head before driving out.”

Lu thought for a moment then asked, “How long have you been doing this?”

“Less than a year, probably.”

“So these videos are all taken within the year, around lunch and dinnertime?” 

Fix pondered for a moment. “I suppose so.”

This implied that aside from these, there ought to be much more.

Lu continued to ask for a few more details related to the videos.

Fix answered each and every one of them. 

And then, Lu suddenly said, “How is Joshua Dale’s relationship with Chester Bell, Kitty Bell’s grandnephew?”

Fix said, “Not that great.”

“Have you ever seen them argue?”

“Actually, I’ve even broken apart a fight.” Fix thought about it, and he said, “These two boys don’t really gel well together in the same space. They would always clash whenever they see each other, but individually, they’re good kids.” 

“Did Chester Bell ever get into a dispute with Joshua Dale over climbing his yard wall?”

Fix, “I haven’t seen it, but I think Joshua would have avoided the time periods when Chester was home.”

“So what you’re saying is that Joshua Dale has a good understanding of Kitty Bell and her grandnephew’s routine?”

Gu Yan suddenly raised a finger in the air, saying mildly, “Objection.” 

Leading questions couldn’t be asked during the examinations. Once they were, the other party had the right to object, and the judge should rule that the objection was valid and stop the witness from answering such questions.

However, Murray Liu’s ass was crooked. “Objection overruled.”

Gu Yan’s face was calm. He didn’t even bat an eyelid.

Seated behind, the electronic pen in Yan Suizhi’s hand was spun once again, and caught between his fingers. He was equally unsurprised by this ruling; after all, this wasn’t the first time that Old Bastard Murray had done such a thing. 

“Did you see Joshua when he was recorded going over the wall on the night of the 23rd?” Lu asked.

“No, I wasn’t in the car at the time,” said Fix, “I had picked up the car and parked it in its usual spot, then went back to my house to finish my half-eaten dinner. I didn’t see it happen. The footage was taken by the dash cam itself after the car was locked.”

Lu, “Why did the footage suddenly stop after ten minutes of recording?”

Fix said, “It ran out of power.” 

Lu asked an assorted mix of scattered questions, enough for the jury to distill a few pieces of information from all of Fix’s answers—that Joshua was familiar enough with the Bell family’s routine to time the crime to precision, that Joshua and Chester were on bad terms, and that on the night of the 23rd, Joshua had climbed over the wall into Kitty Bell’s yard during the likely time frame of the crime.

In general, a lawyer could anticipate a witness’ response to his questions. A good lawyer could keep the witness’ answer exactly within the range of effect he wished to achieve, not a little less, and not a little more.

“I’m done with the examination.” Lu took in the assorted reactions of the jury, nodding at Judge Murray Liu.

Murray Liu turned to Gu Yan. “Lawyer Gu, you may begin cross-examining the witness.” 

But Gu Yan, conversely, raised his hand, saying indifferently, “I have no questions.”

Murray Liu, “…”

Everyone in court, “…”

Joshua Dale, “………………” 

I must have hired a fake lawyer, right? Is this goddamn lawsuit even fightable………