The road home for the New Year is right in front of you, yet far away on the horizon. At the moment of family reunion, not everyone can be fortunate enough to return to their wives, children, and parents, and not everyone can enjoy the joys of family life.
01 The parties sentenced today
One of my clients went to court alone today to receive the sentence. She specifically sent me a message yesterday, asking me to keep my phone open so she could call me at any time if she had any problems.
This is reliance and trust, but also worry and fear.
I’m not too worried about her. Getting a suspended sentence before the New Year means she can have a peaceful year. But the other girls in the same case are not doing well. There’s a university teacher, and the prosecutor’s sentencing recommendation is a custodial sentence. Today’s sentencing will involve detention, and I don’t know how she and her family will face it, nor do I know how she will explain it to her children.
Sentencing at this time shows that the judge is eager to celebrate the New Year and wants to have a peaceful year. As for the girls who are to be detained, it is impossible to consider them.
To talk about this case, it’s about girls who love beauty, taking weight loss pills, finding the effect is good, and then letting people around them introduce them, so they started selling them online and earning a price difference.
During the sales process, they ate it themselves, their families ate it, and their relatives and friends ate it, and the effects were all good. I am arguing not guilty in this case. I believe that she subjectively did not know that the weight loss pills contained toxic and harmful ingredients. If she knew, she would not have eaten them herself and let her family eat them.
And the chat records also clearly show that she confirmed with the supplier that these weight loss pills did not contain any bad ingredients.
In court, I specifically brought up this evidence and presented it to the court, and also pointed out many procedural problems, such as the inspection materials of the inspection report, that is, the seized weight loss pills were not unsealed in front of the parties, and the witnesses were police officers and a series of other problems.
At the end of the trial, the judge said ‘with a profound meaning’, ‘it is a perfect imagination to make judicial personnel legal and compliant in every link of case handling‘—I will probably never forget this sentence in my life.
But in any case, my client got the result of a suspended sentence, and they can accept it, and I have done my best. It’s a little consolation.
02 The parties at the designated residence
There is also a client who will spend the New Year at the designated residence this year, and it makes me sad to think about it.
During the 30 days of criminal detention, I met with him 3 times. He believes he is innocent and walks the right path. During the criminal detention period, the public security did not obtain a confession and then designated him to reside. Various complaints and accusations, but in the end, I still couldn’t meet him. This is the most regrettable case of 24 years.
Last week, I spoke with the police officer and requested a change of compulsory measures and requested a meeting, but it was still rejected on the grounds that a certain committee did not agree. I also mailed a written application, but I have not received a reply.
I asked him, how do you feel about violating the law so openly?
He said dejectedly, I can’t do anything about it, we also want to transfer the case for prosecution as soon as possible, so be it.
His family told me yesterday that he had a dream for his family, saying that he couldn’t go home before the New Year and asked them to have a peaceful New Year.
In this case of clear innocence, in order to eliminate local government debt, they arrested people in other places and designated them to reside, and obtained the expected confession, using criminalization to pay off debts. However, have they considered the legitimate rights and interests of the parties and their families? Destroying the local judicial ecology so unscrupulously, will anyone dare to invest, produce, and operate in the future?
Can’t you even calculate this account?
What makes me sad is that this family is a down-to-earth family, two generations, working diligently and adhering to the principles and bottom lines. Because they are too upright and strictly control things, they have offended difficult people and have been continuously accused, and finally, they were criminally detained.
If innocence and perseverance are also a crime, how should people choose and how should they live?
I hope the client can adhere to the principles at the designated residence, I hope his days are not too difficult, and I hope his family can have a peaceful New Year.
03 The parties serving their sentences in prison
There are also two clients serving their sentences in the same prison. They don’t know each other. One did not appeal, with a four-year sentence. One is preparing to appeal, with a sentence of more than ten years.
The one with four years is the case that I feel most uneasy about in 24 years. The client feels wronged and was tricked by the investigators in various ways, but he didn’t cooperate well with the lawyer. For this case, I held 5 trials, and every time he made the same mistake—telling me that the record was not his true meaning, and then saying it was his true meaning in court.
Although I have fought and resisted, there are many regrets in the process and the results. I can’t let it go, and I feel sad when I think about it. For this case, I have secretly cried, and I have woken up from dreams, but I just can’t accept it. If he had cooperated well, he might not have had to go to jail. But now…
I suppose he is not having a good time in prison either. When we met at the detention center, he desperately asked me to call the families of the people in the same cell, guessing that he was not doing well inside, although he never admitted it. But, in any case, I hope he can have a better time in prison, and the days of the New Year can be a little more comfortable.
The other client is newly taken over, and I haven’t met him yet. Yesterday, I chatted with his family for a whole afternoon, aligning our thoughts and understanding for the upcoming appeal, re-examining the case, clarifying the legal relationships, and making all kinds of preparations. Although I don’t dare to have too many illusions, I will do my best to meet all possible challenges.
04 The parties who are released on bail to go home for the New Year
In addition to the above clients, all the others have been released on bail, and they have all returned to their hometowns for the New Year.
A year of twists and turns has brought huge shocks to their bodies and minds, and to their families, leaving them physically and mentally exhausted.
Temporarily put everything aside, go home for the New Year, return to the side of parents and family, this is the warmest and softest harbor, whether it is to heal wounds, take care of parents, feel the family affection, or find some motivation, or to be a child without thinking about anything else. During the holidays, there is only a light breeze and light clouds, and the affection between children and parents.
Yesterday, a client called me and said that the local police had asked him to take notes again, verifying relevant evidence, but it was not very relevant to his case.
Their case is temporarily not withdrawn, but if they want to convict, the difficulty is also great.
Let’s not worry about it before the New Year, and we will continue to follow up after the New Year. I hope this case can be withdrawn.
There is also a client whose emotions have been unstable, who is too attached to his family and children, which has led to his inability to concentrate on sorting out his own case. For this, I scolded him many times.
The more you can’t let go of your family, the more you have to sort out the case wholeheartedly and collect evidence that is favorable to you, otherwise, aren’t you just adding to your family’s troubles?
Now he has finally turned the corner, is not so worried about gains and losses, and has begun to concentrate on sorting out the case and organizing the evidence materials. This is a good sign.
05 The innocent parties
In 24 years, there was a case of duty-related crimes that was exempt from criminal punishment, 3 ordinary criminal cases that were not prosecuted, and 1 case that was withdrawn by the public security after going all the way from the court… Are these parties safe and sound, without any disturbances?
No.
One of the non-prosecuted cases, the prosecutor transferred the case clues to the administrative authorities and carried out administrative penalties. She was very broken, thinking that since she was not prosecuted and was innocent, everything would be fine. The endless procedures made it difficult for her to bear. She should have calmed down a lot now.
The one who went from the court to the public security and withdrew the case, the unit still gave disciplinary action. Although there is no criminal record, his political future is also gone, and he is also very annoyed.
After going through this disaster of criminal proceedings, they all lost a layer of skin and suffered great physical and mental pain, which also brought immeasurable impact to the family, of course, this impact is both positive and negative.
In any case, they all have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of reality, and they no longer hold unrealistic fantasies about fairness and justice. They will no longer naively think that as long as they are innocent, they can naturally get a not-guilty result without a struggle.
In any case, a year has ended in confusion, ups and downs, anxiety and torment, in entanglement and hesitation, in joy and madness, and in repeated entanglement.
During the Spring Festival, I hope that every client and their families are happy and warm, and that they can draw energy and set off again.
I wish everyone health, peace, and happiness.
—END—
Previous issues: “If you cancel the plea bargain” “Passive prosecutors” “If you don’t plead guilty, you will be severely punished. Why?“…
About the author: Cheng Jinian (Little Cat), who has been a university teacher for 4 years and a prosecutor of a provincial procuratorate for 13 years, is now a practicing lawyer in Shanghai. He is good at handling major and difficult complex cases such as economic and financial crimes, duty-related crimes, corporate compliance, and criminal risk prevention, and handles cases nationwide. Consultation is 3000 yuan/hour, and you can add V if you can accept it: 180-5519-6136.
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