178: This case is getting more and more interesting.

Guo Zihao spoke slowly, and Zhou Yun listened quietly, asking for details from time to time.

According to Guo Zihao's description, he had been bullied for a long time.

This is where some teachers' common saying comes in: why do they only bully you and not others? Think carefully about the reason!

Yes, why? Why do they pick on him to bully?

Guo Zihao had a birthmark on his face, and because of this, he had been self-conscious since childhood, and also because of this, he was bullied the most.

In fact, students with some physical defects often receive more ridicule from their peers.

For example, the bullying video online a while ago was exactly like that.

Perhaps some other classmates were sympathetic, but every adult has experienced it: you have to fit in from childhood.

If other young boys were bullying that classmate and mocking him, and you didn't join in the mockery, you would feel like you didn't fit in.

Some people have strong psychological resilience and don't care about fitting in or not, but many people do care about it.

“They often beat me. Sometimes they made me buy cigarettes, and if I said I had no money, they would beat me together…”

Hearing this, Zhou Yun said, “You mean they often beat you? How did they beat you?”

“They smoked in the restroom, cornered me there, and then kicked me and slapped me together.”

“Sometimes they would hit my face with a mop, shove it into my mouth, or make me drink water mixed with cigarette ash…”

Zhou Yun recorded as he said, “Did those people only bully you?”

This question had to be asked, as it related to another one of Zhou Yun's propositions.

Guo Zihao shook his head and said, “No, not really. They just bully whoever they want.”

“They know someone outside of school who is said to be very influential, and then they just bully people randomly in school.”

Hearing this, Zhou Yun asked, “Do you know that person’s name?”

“It seems like his name is Liu Shuo. Anyway, I hear them all call him Brother Shuo. They say he’s really good at fighting…” Guo Zihao said after thinking for a moment.

“This time it was also because they told me a day before to get money to buy cigarettes, and I had no money, so I thought I’d fight them because they would definitely beat me!”

Zhou Yun nodded: “Then have you ever told a teacher?”

Guo Zihao said a little excitedly, “I did, Lawyer Zhou. I told them many times, but the teacher said they had already educated the other party and also contacted the other party’s parents.”

“But it was useless. They were still the same.”

Zhou Yun was noncommittal, only saying, “Alright, I have a few more questions to ask you…”

The main thing was to confirm some details with him, such as the extent of the beating, and the extent of being hit in the face with a mop.

Half an hour later, Zhou Yun stood up and said, “Alright, Classmate Guo, go back and rest well. Don’t think too much. Just do what needs to be done and calmly wait for the result.”

After a few words of comfort, Zhou Yun turned and left.

He had already understood the general situation of this case. Guo Zihao had been bullied for a long time. This bullying included soft violence, such as being forced to watch videos of people being beaten and drinking cigarette ash water.

Of course, there was also hard violence, which involved a group of people surrounding and beating him, because only after being beaten would he listen.

And before that day, they had again asked him to buy cigarettes, and threatened to beat him if he didn't.

To be honest, this situation reminded Zhou Yun of a rather typical case.

There are many cases every year now. A few years ago, when there was an “online rate” assessment, basically many cases could be found on the Judgment Document Network.

However, it's not possible now. Not only are cases not being uploaded, but even some cases that were uploaded a few years ago have been deleted again.

But there are some professional platforms in the industry that retain more, such as the famous Wolters Kluwer and so on.

However, these types of professional platforms are not for individuals; they cooperate with various law firms. You must be a lawyer to search.

After all, cases are basically handled by lawyers, and cooperating with law firms allows access to first-hand case examples.

Zhou Yun had seen a case of acquittal for rape in his previous life, which many law students have probably heard of; it’s a very classic case.

It was probably more than twenty years ago, when there were many village bullies in the village, real village bullies, not like the Hua Nong brothers.

Village bullies naturally do things like bully men and women. At that time, there was a beautiful widow in the village who was targeted by the village bully and then raped.

After the rape, he threatened her not to speak out or report it to the police.

At that time, given the prevailing atmosphere and the village environment, she did not report it, and the village bully would go to her whenever he had the urge.

The woman suffered immensely and finally couldn't bear it anymore one day.

The village bully said during the day that he would come to her that night. The woman quietly bought rat poison, put it in water, and found a way to make the village bully drink it.

Then, as expected, the village bully was poisoned to death.

The villagers reported the case, and after investigation, the Public Security Bureau arrested the woman for intentional homicide. After that, she was sentenced to more than ten years or some number of years of imprisonment.

From a theoretical perspective, it doesn't seem unfair at all, right? He hadn't even raped her yet, and you bought rat poison and poisoned him to death. Sentencing you for intentional homicide is perfectly reasonable.

In criminal law, this is called pre-emptive self-defense, and our country's law does not support pre-emptive self-defense. Your defense must be directed at an “ongoing infringement.”

However, later, professionals helped appeal, arguing that this was not intentional homicide, but legitimate self-defense!

First, rape is subject to unlimited self-defense rights, so even killing the other party is not excessive.

Secondly, it was argued that this was not pre-emptive self-defense!

It should be considered that the crime began from the moment the village bully said, “I'm coming to you tonight.” This is a continuous act.

Why? From the village bully's previous actions, it can be concluded that the other party was in such a situation before, and “I'm coming to you” actually means coming to rape.

It is crucial to clarify the logic here, because the previous multiple acts of rape can infer that the other party's visit this time was to rape again.

The “presumption” in criminal law is very interesting. This alone can lead to countless papers. Those who have heard Professor Luo's lectures have heard him talk about criminal presumption.

A true presumption in our country's law of evidence generally has three characteristics: inferring the factual element from the underlying facts outside the legal element; second, based on explicit legal provisions; third, allowing rebuttal. (Note 1)

Therefore, some people will definitely say, “What if they just came for dinner? Are you so sure?”

What if?

Here, it is necessary to distinguish again whether the likelihood of coming to “rape” is higher or the likelihood of simply coming for dinner is higher.

There are many rebuttals to such criminal presumptions, and coupled with the fact that there was no Brother Long during the appeal, the aspect of legitimate self-defense has always been very rigid.

Why was she acquitted later? It was because an inconspicuous item was found in the case file: the village bully brought a small bottle of oil when he came.

At that time, oil was a very precious commodity in the village, so why would he bring oil?

After investigation, the village bully had already eaten when he arrived, and in the past, he brought oil for lubrication, so this time was naturally the same.

Then, on this basis, the appeal for acquittal was successful… That’s why it’s said that criminal defense actually requires a lot of imagination.

This can be a direction; it can lead to the conclusion that “if you don't give them money, you will definitely be beaten.”

But it's not enough to constitute legitimate self-defense, because it cannot currently be proven that the other party's beating had reached a degree that would justify such a counterattack.

What interested Zhou Yun even more was another aspect: those people in the school not only bullied Guo Zihao, but also had a “big brother,” who was that hoodlum from outside the school.

A hoodlum from outside the school leading a group of minors, demanding money and bullying people—what kind of nature is this?

Zhou Yun wrote three words in his notebook: “Evil Force!”

Or rather, this is called using minors to commit crimes as an evil force!

Just thinking about it feels wonderful. This case is too interesting.