182: I am Guo Zihao's lawyer. I called him before.

After receiving the relevant receipt at the case filing window, Zhou Yun left the Court.

Next, he just had to wait for the Court to issue an investigation order. He was very curious how the school would respond.

If the surveillance video was intact, then there was no problem; he would just retrieve it normally and see if any relevant content was captured.

But if the surveillance video was broken, then they would have to properly argue about it. Don't blame Zhou Yun for using his 'legal trickster' tactics.

He rarely used those tactics now, but it didn't mean he couldn't. In his previous life, he was a well-known… anyway, he was very skilled.

First, the school's surveillance is important evidence for the school to prove that it has 'fulfilled its educational and management responsibilities'!

According to the video on Tao Hui's son's phone, sometimes these students would simply beat people in the school classroom.

Many people might be surprised and ask, 'How can students still dare to beat people like this in the classroom in this day and age?' Well, don't be surprised, because it really happens in reality.

So, okay, right there in the classroom, several students beat up other students. Did so many students go and report it to the teachers?

If they did, that's good. Then you can ask if your teachers intervened promptly, how they handled it afterward, and if the school implemented corresponding measures.

If not, then isn't your safety education inadequate? 'Students are afraid of being beaten so they don't dare to tell the teacher'—this itself means the work hasn't been done properly.

Why do I say this? Because it inevitably means that problems reported by students before were not fully resolved!

Campus bullying is not a problem that forms in a day or two.

You think I'm making trouble for no reason, right? Well, you're absolutely right, I am making trouble for no reason, but the key is that I really can cause trouble for you.

Anyone who has been a teacher basically understands how annoying it is to encounter such a person…

However, all of this is predicated on the school's surveillance being broken. If the surveillance is normal, then this wouldn't be possible.

Back at the hotel, Zhou Yun continued to refine his criminal defense strategy.

Even if everything went smoothly for him, it didn't mean he would necessarily be acquitted. This wasn't a case with particularly abundant evidence, so he had to fully consider the situation.

That is, if the Procuratorate still decided to prosecute, what then?

At that point, both a not-guilty defense and a reduced-sentence defense would have to be made.

In fact, many legal practitioners are not very clear about this situation: whether a defense lawyer can simultaneously make a 'not-guilty defense' and a 'lesser-guilt defense' during a trial.

Many criminal defense lawyers have basically encountered this situation, with the judge asking, 'Are you making a not-guilty defense or a lesser-guilt defense?'

And then the public prosecutor would accuse, saying the defense lawyer's logic was contradictory. 'You already think he's innocent, so why are you talking about sentencing?'

In his previous life, Zhou Yun had encountered this. He directly stated at the time, 'You should go and carefully read the legal provisions.'

Article 231, Paragraph 2 of the 'Interpretation of the Supreme Peoples Court on the Application of the Criminal Procedure Law' stipulates: For cases where the defendant does not plead guilty or the defense lawyer makes a not-guilty defense, during Court debate, the prosecution and defense can be guided to first debate the issue of conviction, and then debate the issue of sentencing.

This legal provision states very clearly that although the defendant does not plead guilty and the defense lawyer makes a not-guilty defense, sentencing must still be debated.

Why? It's simple: to fully guarantee the defendant's right to defense.

So Zhou Yun needed to carefully consider, if a not-guilty plea couldn't be achieved, to what extent he needed to work on sentencing, or whether he absolutely had to insist on a not-guilty plea, appealing, and then petitioning afterward.

All these needed to be fully considered to avoid not knowing how to respond to unexpected situations.

Time slowly passed. On the morning of the third day, Zhou Yun received the investigation order and then headed straight for Fengxian County Fifth High School.

He was stopped at the entrance.

However, holding an investigation order bearing the Court's name still had some effect. After communicating with the security guard at the gate, the security guard said he would first ask his leader for instructions.

This didn't matter, after all, this was just a Court investigation order.

These days, even fire trucks and ambulances are sometimes stopped at the gate by security guards, let alone an investigation order.

For the security guard, it's just a job. The company said no vehicles can enter without permission, so even a fire truck has to wait patiently.

As for fines later, those aren't his fines...

In the office, Tian Xiashan was still there as usual. This school basically didn't need to consider its college admission rate anymore; it was very poor.

Just then, a Vice Principal in charge of campus safety walked in: "Principal Tian, the security guard at the school gate just called and said a lawyer is here with a Court investigation order to enter!"

“Huh?” Tian Xiashan looked bewildered upon hearing this. “What’s going on? A lawyer, and with a Court investigation order?”

“Yes, that’s what the security guard said. What do you think…?”

Tian Xiashan hesitated, then said, “You go down and ask what this is about.”

The Vice Principal acknowledged him and then left the office.

The security guard at the gate had already started chatting with Zhou Yun, and now he said with a surprised look, “So our school is being sued?”

Zhou Yun handed him a cigarette and smiled, “Yes, the evidence isn’t sufficient, so I’m here to collect some.”

The security guard smiled upon hearing this, “Oh, you lawyers are amazing! My son is taking the college entrance exam this year, and I’m also going to have him study law…”

Hearing this, Zhou Yun quickly interjected, “Studying law is great, but after graduating, you might have to rely on your parents, otherwise you might starve…”

The two were chatting happily when someone nearby said, “What are you talking about!”

The security guard quickly said, “Vice Principal Liu, nothing, just…”

The Vice Principal named Liu waved his hand and said with a serious expression, “Alright, you go back to your work.”

He then looked at Zhou Yun outside and said, “You’re that lawyer? What’s going on?”

Zhou Yun quickly stepped forward, smiling, “You must be Principal Liu, right? Hello, hello. I am Lawyer Zhou Yun from Zhentian Law Firm in Jinghai City.”

“This time, I’m representing several students from your esteemed school. They were bullied at school, and your school didn’t do anything about it, so we sued all of you.”

“You’ll probably receive a call from the Court in another day or two.”

“I’m here today because the evidence for the case isn’t fully sufficient, so I’d like to retrieve your surveillance footage. This is the Court’s investigation order.”

Zhou Yun? Principal Liu frowned. That name sounded familiar. He seemed to have heard it somewhere before.

After taking the investigation order and looking at it, he noticed another aspect: “Students from our school sued the school? You’re the defense lawyer?”

“Yes, yes, indeed, I am the defense lawyer.”

“And now your evidence isn’t sufficient, so you’ve come here to retrieve surveillance as evidence to sue us?” Principal Liu said again.

Zhou Yun still maintained his smile: “Yes, yes, this is also unavoidable. You see, if the evidence isn’t enough, it’s certainly hard to proceed, so I hope you can facilitate this.”

Principal Liu was completely dumbfounded: “No, you want to sue us, and you come here to retrieve surveillance, and you want me to facilitate it? You… ”

Zhou Yun’s smile disappeared. He pointed to the investigation order in the other party’s hand and said, “Well, if you don’t want to facilitate it, that’s fine. Let’s put it another way: cooperate with the investigation.”

“Anyway, whatever you prefer to hear, I’ll say it. It’s all the same.”

Principal Liu then said, “Please wait a moment. I’ll go report to the leader.”

Turning around, Principal Liu dialed Tian Xiashan’s number and explained the situation.

Tian Xiashan immediately said, “School students sued us? This is simply absurd. We didn’t do anything, and they sued us… Wait, what did you say his name was, Zhou Yun?”

“That Zhou Yun from Jinghai? Holy cow, how did he end up in our county? Alright, quickly let him in, bring him to my office.”

A few minutes after hanging up, Tian Xiashan saw a young man enter the office, and immediately stepped forward, saying, “You must be Lawyer Zhou, right? Oh, I’ve heard so much about you. Come, sit over here.”

Zhou Yun, who had just entered, looked at Tian Xiashan in front of him and said, “You must be Principal Tian, right? I’ve finally met you! It’s really hard to get an audience with you.”

Seeing the other party's bewildered expression, Zhou Yun added, “Oh, right, I forgot to tell you, I called you before. I am Guo Zihao’s defense lawyer.”

“What?” Tian Xiashan was stunned.