"Should I make a call to check? Don't worry, I'm easy to talk to,"
Zhao Dehan dared not speak anymore; even without this evidence, he thought there was something off about the lawyer facing him.
Behind him, two parents were discussing, and someone spoke to the prison guard police behind them: "What, can someone with mental illness be a lawyer?"
The prison guard police looked at each other, stumped by the question—they genuinely didn't know.
But they too had the same thought; this lawyer named Tang Fangjing, really did seem a bit off.
However, as soon as they thought about it, they figured that it was normal for someone with a certificate to be a bit abnormal, and they didn't quite know what to say.
The prison guard police didn't respond, and Old Tang continued, "Shall we leave it at that? Old Liu, did you get a picture?" ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by n0velfire.net
Old Liu nodded subconsciously,
"Then that's settled. Let's go, no point hanging around here anymore."
When they were finished, Old Tang led Old Liu and his family of three to the parking lot, even Guan Qiaolian, who was the most vociferous just now, kept her mouth tightly shut.
Watching these people leave, the prison guard police coughed twice and said, "All right, all right, you folks should head out too. Ah, and those who have objections to bail pending trial can follow the normal procedure to lodge their complaint, that's it."
After the prison guard police left, only a few parents remained, standing there in a daze.
But soon, the parents gathered their wits; the parent with minor injuries found an excuse to leave, feeling all the frustrations bubbling inside her.
"What do we do now?" Zhao Dehan asked.
He never considered calling the police; in a situation , no one at the police station would pay attention to him—there were no injuries to speak of, and the police surely had better things to do than get involved in such matters.
"Go file a complaint against that lawyer named Tang Fangjing. A person with mental illness can be a lawyer? What a joke!"
While speaking, Guan Qiaolian started searching on Baidu for how to file a complaint against a lawyer.
It wasn't long before a whole bunch of answers popped up, the most common one being: complain to the Lawyers Association, which is very effective because lawyers fear the Association the most.
Guan Qiaolian quickly made up her mind to complain to the Lawyers Association!
On the other hand, Tang Fangjing had returned to the law firm, but he found it strange that Liu Yan, who usually called him 'Uncle Tang' very affectionately, had not spoken to him the whole way.
Nevertheless, that wasn't important right now. The key issue was still to collect evidence.
Time flows like water, and in a blink of an eye, another week passed. Since the previous confrontation with the parents, they had not come to cause any more trouble.
However, what upset Tang Fangjing was that although the public security organs had not applied for an arrest warrant, they had transferred the case materials to the prosecutor's office.
This also meant that the case had officially entered the prosecution review stage.
His previous written opinion had been of no use, though Tang Fangjing had not found it surprising.
There were still significant issues with the recognition of self-defense. Liu Yan's actions could indeed be easily deemed excessive defense.
Anyway, he decided it was time to contact the prosecutorial authorities and have a good discussion to see if he could argue against the indictment.
At the same time, he wanted to copy and excerpt the case files to see what the public security organs had in hand.
Time passed quickly, but while he was still actively applying, Old Liu brought Liu Yan to Tengda.
"You're saying that the prosecutor's office summoned you again, asking if you would plead guilty and accept punishment?" Tang Fangjing frowned as he looked at Liu Yan in front of him.
Liu Yan nodded, her face still showing fear: "Just yesterday, they called me to the prosecutor's office and told me that I am now suspected of intentional injury resulting in serious harm, and that this charge could result in a prison sentence of three to ten years."
"They also said that if I admit guilt and accept punishment, I could be treated more leniently, and since I'm a minor and there were extenuating circumstances..."
Hearing Liu Yan's words, Tang Fangjing turned to Old Liu:
"First of all, I need to tell you that I plan to defend Xiaoyan as innocent. Xiaoyan is a minor, and if both the legal representative and the defense lawyer disagree, then the guilty plea system does not apply."
"So it's up to you to decide, do you trust me?"
To be honest, Old Tang could only hope that Old Liu would trust him at this point. As things stood, the prosecutorial authority also seemed inclined to believe it was excessive defense, and it was virtually impossible for there to not be a prosecution.
Faced with this attitude from the prosecutor's office, many suspects choose to plead guilty and accept punishment, which sometimes leads to disputes with their defense lawyers.
Defense lawyers want to argue for acquittal, but if you ask them if they are sure of success, they are not.
On one hand, there's a possibility of being found not guilty; on the other, there's a promise of leniency. This choice is crucial.
Therefore, before proceeding, Tang Fangjing must have Old Liu's consent.
Old Liu quickly said, "There's no need to say anymore, Old Tang, I trust you. Defend however you think is best. If you say Xiaoyan shouldn't plead guilty, then we won't let her plead guilty."
After a pause, Old Liu added, "It's better not to go to prison if it can be helped..."
Tang Fangjing sought confirmation once more; he truly did not want the case to be half-done only to have Old Liu regret it later.
If that happened, his task would certainly fail, and if his task failed, so would he, which was an unacceptable outcome!
Now, with internal opinions aligned, Tang Fangjing prepared to communicate with the prosecutor's office.
However, as Old Liu was about to leave, Tang Fangjing gave yet another piece of advice: "When you have time, take your daughter to get evaluated for various mental health issues, like depression and the like; get all the tests done and bring back the results."
Though puzzled, Old Liu still nodded and agreed.
It wasn't until the following afternoon that Tang Fangjing finally met with the prosecutor.
The prosecutor, surnamed Deng, was not young, but the words he spoke were unacceptable to Tang Fangjing.