Ten years ago, when I graduated from law school, I worked on my first criminal case for my
classmate.
It was a case I will never forget.
Let me tell you in advance, it was not a very high-powered case.
There is no "mincing people to make pig feed" bloody violence.
There's no "mother-in-law chopping off her daughter-in-law's head" ethical thriller.
It's the kind of mundane that happens around you and me, and everyone has the potential to
experience it.
It was a case of migrant worker homicide.
It happened on August 14, 2014, at the construction site dormitory 201.
The killer first called the police at 3 PM to inform them of the time and place of the murder, and
hoped that the police would set out to arrest him now.
Police tried to dissuade him, but he simply talked to them and then hung up.
At the same time the phone hung up, the killer found a rope through the metal hook on the roof
of the dormitory to hang the electric fan, and tied a lasso knot at one end of the rope.
While the victim was still asleep, the killer placed the knot gently around the victim's head.
He then stands at a distance, gathers his strength, and pulls the rope downward in a tug-of-war
position.
The noose tights, strangles the victim by the neck, drags him off the bed, and dangles him in the
air.
Typically, it takes five minutes to hang someone, and during that time, the victim struggles in pain,
cramps, bloodshot eyes, and his windpipe closes, so he's constantly scratching at his neck, trying
to breathe.
During those five minutes, if the killer has a moment of conscience, if he stops, the victim doesn't
die.
But the killer was determined to kill his victims.
So five minutes later, the victim stopped fighting.
Two minutes later, at 3:18 p.m., the police arrived, and when they opened the door, they saw a
man in his prime hanging in the middle of the room.
The man was sitting on the lower bunk with a rope tied to the railing of the double bed.
Police made an arrest at the scene.
Later, the police asked the murderer why he did the murder, and his answer was surprising.
It was just because the two had pushed each other when they were working on weekdays, so
they had a grudge.
I just said that this criminal case is for my student brother.
The student is not the victim in this case, he is the murderer.
My younger student is Mike Hammer, who I met in the basketball club. During the summer
vacation of my junior year, he went to work on the construction site to earn money. He killed
someone on the construction site.
It was five days after the incident before he remembered to call me.
The reason was that the legal aid lawyer assigned to him by the court did not want to help him with the case and had privately declined several times.
Mike Hammer was worried that if this lawyer represented him, he might have a lawyer who
refused to defend him in court.
In order to get his sentence reduced, he needed a reliable lawyer, so he turned to me.
But there's another reason.
Mike Hammer's parents are dead and his family is too poor to afford a lawyer.
At that time, I did not know why I accepted his commission. Maybe it was because of the
friendship of college, or because I did not believe he was capable of murder. Anyway, I accepted
in a confused way.
But when I actually took on the case, I realized what a mistake it was.
····
In the legal profession, there is a saying called the win rate, so many lawyers will choose to win
the case, I think Mike Hammer's legal aid lawyer is such a person.
The reason he wanted to reject Mike Hammer was probably because the case had almost no
room to defend. It was a Slam Dunk case.
The crime scene is complete.
Murder weapon present.
The suspect pleads guilty.
Full of human and physical evidence.
A case like this, which is almost a Slam Dunk, is not going to end well for either lawyer.
Let alone a rookie lawyer who was prosecuting a criminal case for the first time.
...
I spent three days studying the case file and putting together the best defense I could.
Then I applied for a meeting with the detention center.
When I met Mike Hammer in the meeting room, I told him the first thing.
"You're going to get at least life. "
Mike Hammer's reaction at the time was surprise.
"How can it be indefinite? I have surrendered circumstances and should be given a lighter
sentence. "
He called the police for a long time in order to get a light sentence. This behavior is somewhat
blind, so I gave him popular science.
"Surrender refers to the voluntary surrender after committing a crime, you are the initiative to
inform the police before committing a crime, which is a knowing offense, the crime is higher." "
He may be regretful, or he may be unwilling.
"But I... "
To give him a reality check, I told him.
"It takes about five minutes to hang a man, during which time you are subjected to intense moral
torture, during which five minutes if you let go, the victim will live, but when you don't let go, you
are determined to kill the victim, and life is the best fate. "
"Indefinite... Am I going to jail for the rest of my life? "
"If you serve your sentence with good behavior, it can be commuted to a term of imprisonment. "
Mike Hammer looks sideways at me.
"If I'm on good behavior, when can I get out? "
"Fast, serve 13 years and get out. "He listened to my answer then, as if giving up the struggle, bowed his head and spoke to me in a pleading tone.
"Trouble the senior. "
I was looking down at the back of his head, and I really couldn't figure it out at the time.
How could this poor, honest boy at school kill someone for pushing?