Just in the few days it took Lynch to start renovating his new home, something changed in Michael's law enforcement case.
The first person to step forward was not Lynch, nor Michael, nor Chief Johnson, but Michael's good partner.
This good partner, and Michael's partner for twelve or thirteen years, is also the deputy head of the Sabine City Taxation Bureau's investigative team, in the eyes of many people he has always been Michael's good brother, and the two of them have almost nothing to say to each other.
No one expected that he would actually come forward first, before the media confessed, some media did not know before the "details".
In the good partner's description, the conflict between Michael and Lynch originated from an accidental "collision" between the two.
"Michael and I were walking down the street, Lynch ... was pushing a cart full of dirty clothes down the sidewalk, and Michael pointed at Lynch and said to me, 'Hey, look at that kid, let's straighten him out. "
The good partner gave the camera lens a sullen, regretful look, "I thought he was joking, but he obviously meant it, and then he took me and assaulted Mr. Lynch without any reason, without a search warrant, without an arrest warrant, and without any legal paperwork."
"He told me to search the car to see if I could find anything to charge Mr. Lynch with while he took Mr. Lynch to the corner of the alley where he assaulted him ..."
The reporters gasped, unable to imagine what kind of hatred could make a grown man so brutal to a young man.
One reporter couldn't help but stand up, "Mr. Partner, did Michael and Lynch know each other before this, did they have a grudge?"
The good partner shook his head, "They do not know each other, whether there is a feud I am not sure, maybe Michael himself know why ...", then he began to continue to recount Michael's "atrocities", which included blackmail beatings and assaults on a young man. which included the blackmail beating of the newspaper head, beating the newspaper head to vomit blood, and things like that.
Such things more reflect Michael's brutality and cruelty, but also let the media more inclined to Michael is a problem investigator, he is accustomed to the use of violence to solve the problem, and even to threaten the ordinary, innocent people.
Afterwards, Director Johnson also appeared in person to express his own work mistakes, he always thought that Michael would change, so in disguise indulged Michael, he said that he also have to bear the responsibility for this incident.
At one time, whether Michael's friends, his partner, his subordinates, or people who knew him were interviewed by the media, most of these interviews had the same result, Michael had serious violent tendencies, and his temper was also very quick and violent.
The media even interviewed Michael's father, the old man was driven out with a double-barreled shotgun, and so even Michael's father, the family became the new trend of public opinion - "how violent can a person really be".
People began to move the question of whether law enforcement was overreaching away from Michael's case and instead began to look at Michael himself as a person.
Many people asked his friends, his co-workers, why they hadn't warned Michael earlier that he had a bad temper, and many even answered that they were afraid Michael would beat them up.
The quick turnaround in public opinion pleased the Federal Revenue Service up there, there weren't a few legislators chanting about putting power in cages or something stupid like that anymore, people were reprimanding Michael, and that was just fine!
Less than a week after Lynch bought the house, Michael's case went to trial.
Lynch, being the primary and one of the known victims, had to be there as a witness and maybe use him.
The trial was not held in open court, on the grounds that too much media could potentially disrupt the process and affect the order of the courtroom, but in fact to ensure that the outcome of this trial was correct.
The FBI and the FTB had enough energy to spook the Justice Department, so the Justice Department issued a closed-door trial request to the Sabine City City Court a day early.
Since this was not a major criminal case, but only considered an ordinary assault case, there was no need for a jury, only the defendant, the defendant's defense attorney, and the judge himself.
The courtroom was very empty, and Lynch sat in the gallery surveying the apparently temporarily groomed Michael with some amusement; his pale face made him look much more haggard, and his dull hair made him look woefully out of shape.
The judge asked over a dozen questions in a row, most of which Michael answered and pleaded guilty to, except for a few that he refused to answer.
The court sentenced him in court to eighty-seven months, or seven years and three months.
Considering that Michael had been a law enforcement officer in Sabine, and that he had personally put some people behind bars, his sentence would be spent in a more tightly regulated state prison in another state, for his own personal safety.
Michael was a bit surprised by this sentence but did not request an appeal, the judge did not limit his mitigating clauses when he handed down the sentence, in other words he would not really be in jail for as long as seven years.
According to the federal laws and regulations, he can be reduced to less than three years in various ways, and then the Federal Tax Administration side of the "Special Talent Acquisition Act" as the reason, Michael directly "requisition" out, and then find a place to arrange a little, he will be free.
The entire sentence is actually less than three years, which is what Commissioner Johnson personally guaranteed him, so Michael won't be appealing, there's no need to do so.
Once appealed it would be tried in state court, and chances were the situation would be much worse, the federal judges were very solipsistic in their sentencing process, and if they felt that Michael's behavior on appeal was one of those unmanageable outbursts that were provocative to the court and the law, they might increase the sentence and limit the reductions.
That was the end of the matter at that point, the media got the results of the trial first after the sentencing, then the entire Commonwealth knew the outcome within a day, and people began to engage in new topics after a brief period of group justice.
A storm subsided out of sight and all seemed to be happy.
Commissioner Johnson received a commendation from the state office, Michael's partner, the deputy head of the IRS investigative team, was officially transferred to a new position, there were changes in each member of the group, those behind the scenes were content to lay down their lives, and the people were even more content to retire after watching a great show.
Everyone left so contented it was comical.
"Mr. Lynch!"
He had just gotten rid of the reporters' fearless pestering, and had walked out about just a hundred meters or so, when two kids with dirty duck-tongued hats stopped in front of him, and he knew one of them, the one who had once exchanged ninety-seven cents for a dollar, a newspaper boy.
Lynch casually put his hand in his pants pocket, there was a pen in his pocket, he pushed the cap off with his finger, there was once a guy who took out a guy while saying "a pen is like a knife", he wasn't sure if he was that fierce, but at least it gave him a little bit of backbone.
He'd watched these kids stab masthead to death that night, the fangs these kids hid were more side-splitting than the pity they showed.
"Something wrong?" , Lynch had some kind of smile on his face, he always smiled, like the weather was always nice and the sun was always shining.
The two teenagers looked at each other, one of them patted his backpack, "Sir, I have a lot of change here, do you still need it?"
These kids were sort of relieved for the time being after Newspaper Head's death, but only for the time being, as the situation quickly changed.
They needed to send the families behind them, or the orphanage, the payment for hiring these kids on time, and to make some social connections.
They could bring back their own payment to the orphanage and their families, but they couldn't do anything about the social connections, which made it impossible for them to get newspapers anymore, and the newspaper companies refused to give them wholesale newspapers to the minors.
At the same time, there were some problems at the recycling center, where they kept the price down, and what used to be sold for twenty or thirty dollars or more every day was now sold for only a few dollars or a dozen dollars.
If they argue a few times, the scrap yard refuses to take it back, which makes the children start to panic, if they are not able to solve their current predicament, soon they will be sent to other people by their guardians, they need a way out now.
Since this was not a major criminal case, but just a simple assault, there was no need for a jury, just the defendant, the defendant's attorney, and the judge himself.
The courtroom was very empty, and Lynch sat in the gallery watching the apparently temporarily groomed Michael with some amusement; his pale face made him look much more haggard, and his dull hair made him look woefully out of shape.
The judge asked over a dozen questions in a row, most of which Michael answered and pleaded guilty to, except for a few that he refused to answer.
The court sentenced him to eighty-seven months, or seven years and three months.
Considering that Michael had been a law enforcement officer in Sabine and had personally put some people behind bars, his sentence would be served in a more tightly regulated state prison in another state for his own personal safety.
Michael was a little surprised by this sentence, but he did not file an appeal; the judge did not limit his mitigating factors when he handed down the sentence, in other words, he would not actually be in prison for seven years.
According to federal laws and regulations, he can be reduced to less than three years in various ways, and then the Federal Tax Administration side of the "Special Talent Acquisition Act" as the reason, Michael directly "requisition" out, and then find a place to arrange a little, he will be free.
The entire sentence is actually less than three years, which is what Commissioner Johnson personally guaranteed him, so Michael will not appeal, there's no need to do so.
If he did appeal, he would be tried in state court, and chances were the situation would be much worse, the federal judges were very solipsistic in their sentencing process, and if they felt that Michael's behavior on appeal was one of those uncontrollable outbursts that were provocative to the court and the law, they might increase the sentence and limit the commutations.
That was the end of the matter at that point, the media got the results of the trial only after the verdict, then the entire Commonwealth knew the outcome within a day, and people began to move on to new topics after a brief period of group justice.
A storm passed out of sight and everyone seemed happy.
Commissioner Johnson received a commendation from the state office, Michael's partner, the deputy head of the IRS investigation team, was officially transferred to a new position, there were changes in every member of the group, those behind the scenes were content to lay down their lives, and the people were even more content to retire after watching a great show.
Everyone left so content it was comical.
"Mr. Lynch!"
He had just gotten rid of the fearless pestering of the reporters and had walked about a hundred yards when two kids in dirty duck-tongued hats stopped in front of him, and he knew one of them, the one who had once exchanged ninety-seven cents for a dollar, a newspaper boy.
Lynch nonchalantly put his hand in his pocket, there was a pen in his pocket, he pushed the cap off with his finger, there was a guy who took out a guy once, saying "a pen is like a knife", he wasn't sure he was that tough, but at least it gave him a little backbone.
He'd watched those kids stab masthead to death that night, the fangs those kids hid were more sideways than the pity they showed.
"Something wrong?" Lynch had a kind of smile on his face, he always smiled, like the weather was always nice and the sun was always shining.
The two teenagers looked at each other, one of them patted his backpack, "Sir, I have a lot of change here, do you need it?"
These kids were relieved for a while after the death of the newspaper editor, but only for a while, because the situation was changing quickly.
They needed to send the families behind them, or the orphanage, the payment for hiring these children on time and make some social connections.
They could return their own payment to the orphanage and their families, but they couldn't do anything about the social connections, which made it impossible for them to get newspapers anymore, and the newspaper companies refused to give them wholesale newspapers for the minors.
At the same time, there were some problems at the recycling center, where they kept the price down, and what used to be sold for twenty or thirty dollars or more every day was now sold for a few dollars or a dozen dollars.
If they argue a few times, the scrap yard refuses to take it back, which makes the children panic, if they are not able to solve their current predicament, soon they will be sent to other people by their guardians, they need a way out now.