202: Comrades in the education system, wait for me!

At Jinghai City Intermediate Court, in the familiar Third Tribunal, as the Presiding Judge's gavel struck, Lü Xinhao’s face instantly turned pale.

Life imprisonment, and after being identified as a gang member, his sentence reduction would be particularly difficult; he had already learned all these things recently.

After the trial began and before the verdict was announced, Fang Ruifeng visited him again, basically explaining all the relevant circumstances.

To give the simplest example, an ordinary criminal can start thinking about applying for a sentence reduction after serving two years in prison.

But for gang members, they have to stay put for at least four years, and then the approval process is even more troublesome; the Provincial Prison Administration Bureau, the Court, the Procuratorate, and so on, all have to agree, and finally the Court can make a decision on the sentence reduction.

Although he had guessed he might be sentenced to life imprisonment, Lü Xinhao still couldn't accept it when the sentence was actually handed down.

He didn't understand much before, or rather, he had no reverence for the law, as watching those TV dramas made going to jail seem not so bad.

But after staying in the Detention Center for such a long time, he was truly scared.

And frankly, the Detention Center is not a place for people; prison requires labor, which is actually fine, but in the Detention Center, except for recreation time, you can only stay in that room.

Anyone who can endure that place for a long time is considered a tough person.

Just thinking about his future, Lü Xinhao felt terrified.

Lü Dehai’s face was very grim; he had already decided that he must appeal, feeling it was unfair!

Listening to what his son had done during the trial that day, Lü Dehai indeed felt guilty, but… no one died, so why was he sentenced to life imprisonment?

Although he did do quite a lot, it wasn't a big deal, was it? Who hasn't encountered such things when they were in school? How could someone be so fragile as to develop depression?

Beside Zhou Yun, Zhu Weifeng looked thoughtful; although it was only the first instance, for this type of case, the second instance rarely changes the verdict.

It's a well-known fact that in second instance judgments, upholding the original verdict is the norm, while remanding for retrial or changing the verdict is the exception.

Why? Upholding the original verdict can be decided by the handling judge himself, but remanding for retrial or changing the verdict is different; that requires reporting to the leaders for a decision.

So, generally, if a case reaches the second instance, as long as it can be justified, the second instance judge will uphold it.

Cases that won't be overturned don't even have a hearing; they are directly reviewed in writing or by a judge's assistant who asks a few questions, and then the original verdict is upheld.

Most second instance cases are handled relatively quickly; as we mentioned before, if a second instance judge is actively trying to mediate, or if a ruling is delayed, it means the second instance judge himself is indecisive.

And in this case, the evidence and facts are sufficient, which is the most important thing; with videos they filmed themselves, what evidence could be more conclusive than that?

Precisely because the evidence was so compelling, this case was relatively simple to handle; evidence is the foundation of criminal cases.

In addition to the criminal sentencing, the first instance also included the civil accessory case sentencing, which was proposed by Zhu Weifeng.

He had not issued a letter of understanding before, but that didn't mean he couldn't demand compensation from the other party.

The rape caused his daughter severe depression, resulting in immense harm, so under Zhou Yun's suggestion, he demanded 500,000 yuan in compensation from Lü Xinhao, and 300,000 yuan from each of the remaining three individuals.

Any discerning person would know this was an exorbitant demand, but it didn't matter; this was also a small trick, perhaps, as civil accessory cases in criminal proceedings do not require Court fees.

Article 199 of the Supreme Peoples Court's Interpretation on the Application of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that people's Courts shall not charge litigation fees for hearing civil accessory cases.

Therefore, when encountering this type of situation, it is essential to file an accessory lawsuit rather than initiate a separate lawsuit.

For ordinary people, the most common situation encountered is traffic accidents.

And precisely because no litigation fees are charged, you can demand more when filing a lawsuit.

Why? Basically, everyone knows that Court judgments have a principle, which is essentially within the scope of your claims.

In plain language, if you ask for 100,000, the Court's judgment will only be less than or equal to 100,000, not greater than 100,000.

We mentioned before that the Court is like a top; it only moves when whipped.

Now we can add another limitation: the number of rotations of the top is positively correlated with the force of your whip; the harder you whip, the more turns it makes.

However, there is another issue here, which is that in cases involving sexual assault, compensation for emotional distress is not supported.

China's 2012 version of the 'Interpretation of the Criminal Procedure Law' stipulates: 'If a civil accessory lawsuit or a separate civil lawsuit is filed to claim compensation for emotional distress due to criminal infringement, the people's Court shall not accept it.'

There's a logic here: the expert responsible for that interpretation at the time meant, 'The state has already restored justice through public prosecution, and spiritual solace has been achieved, so there's no need for additional compensation through economic means.'

Then, in 2021, an amendment was made; Article 175, Paragraph 2 of the 2021 version of the 'Interpretation of the Criminal Procedure Law' stipulates: 'If a civil accessory lawsuit or a separate civil lawsuit is filed to claim compensation for emotional distress due to criminal infringement, the people's Court generally shall not accept it.'

Do you see the difference? The addition of the word “generally.”

Legal terms are very precise; adding these two words changes the meaning, just like our common phrase “principally disagree.”

“Generally not accepted” means that in special circumstances, it can be, right? This is equivalent to opening a loophole.

Thus, lawyers like Zhou Yun can get creative, for example, this time, he claimed compensation under the guise of “psychological rehabilitation fees.”

Claims require reasons; you need to state why you need this money and what the evidence is.

Compensation for emotional distress cannot be supported, so I'll change my approach: look, I'm depressed, so I definitely need psychological rehabilitation, right? Everyone knows how expensive psychologists are nowadays.

And psychological rehabilitation is a long-term process, so this expense should be considered a medical expense, right? Wouldn't that work?

Additionally, the “Law on the Protection of Minors” was invoked, a multi-pronged approach, and the Court had previously accepted the case.

This approach actually existed before, but it was previously considered a rephrasing of “compensation for emotional distress,” so even if it was brought up, it wasn't supported.

But now with the addition of “generally,” it can be used.

Ordinary people can actually use this approach too; it means that if you've suffered mental depression and need psychological rehabilitation, you can find a psychologist to prescribe a course of treatment based on the consultation fees, and then you can sue on that basis.

In practice, some local Courts do support this.

Meanwhile, the Presiding Judge also read out the civil judgment: Lü Xinhao, as the principal offender, was to pay 100,000 yuan for psychological rehabilitation fees, and the remaining three individuals were to pay 50,000 yuan each.

Hearing this judgment, Lü Dehai could no longer hold back and directly said, “I want to appeal!”

Fang Ruifeng, beside him, said nothing; at this point in the case, an appeal was meaningless, but if he wanted to appeal, he certainly had to support it; it was just a matter of following procedure… and earning a bit more money.

Time slowly passed; fortunately, the efficiency of the Jiangdong Province High Court was decent, otherwise, the Fengxian County Procuratorate would have already been preparing to trouble the Comrades of the Public Security Bureau for a second time.

In fact, by now, not just the Fengxian County Procuratorate, but the Public Security Bureau was also monitoring the outcome of this case.

If possible, they would directly withdraw the case through a second supplementary investigation.

That is to say, if possible, they wouldn't bother the Procuratorate; the Public Security Bureau would withdraw the case themselves…

Another morning passed, and the Jiangdong Province High Court delivered its second instance judgment: appeal dismissed, original verdict upheld.

See? When the evidence is clear and precise, the second instance Court is very efficient.

Upon receiving the judgment, Zhu Weifeng was filled with emotion; this matter finally had a resolution.

Zhou Yun, however, did not delay for a moment, taking Guo Xitian directly to Fengxian County.

Comrades of the education system, Principal Tian, wait for me!