119: Criminal reconciliation?

The case was troublesome, but Zhou Yun enjoyed this kind of trouble.

Criminal defense is known as the brightest pearl in the crown of law, the most challenging, and the one that best reflects professional skill, because it involves life and death.

For Zhou Yun, doing criminal defense was actually a kind of enjoyment, a kind of relaxation.

During the investigation phase of a case, there isn't much a lawyer can do; meeting with the client is more about giving them confidence.

Although there's a lot of legal popularization online, saying things like after an interrogation, you must carefully review your transcript and never sign if anything doesn't match up.

Is that wrong? No, it's not, because interrogation transcripts, commonly known as confessions, are particularly important in our country's criminal evidence system, especially the first interrogation!

Friends who are often interrogated know that people are most flustered when they first go in; they basically say whatever they're asked, and sometimes even speak without being asked.

But there's a problem here: after being arrested, how many people can maintain good psychological composure and communicate these things with the Police Officer conducting the interrogation?

Zhou Yun thought about these questions while taking a taxi back to the law firm.

Not long after he entered his office, Old Zhuang came over: "How is it? Do you think there's any hope?"

Lawyer Zhou shook his head and said, "I can't say for sure right now. I have too little information at hand."

If there's no arrest approval, then work must be done during the investigation phase, because the period of criminal detention is also known as the golden time for criminal cases, which is to strive for no arrest.

But if the arrest is approved, there's nothing more to say during the investigation phase; just wait patiently for the review and prosecution.

Old Zhuang nodded. Since Lawyer Zhou said so, they could only wait.

Time passed day by day, spring arrived, and it was again the season for animals to mate.

This isn't a joke, because Zhentian Law Firm has recently taken on several rape cases, and the current overall environment isn't good, so Old Zhuang is a bit stumped.

However, there's good news: Zhang Yunfan's case has already reached the Procuratorate.

Upon hearing the news, Lawyer Zhou quickly began preparing to review the case file.

Many places are now implementing online file review, meaning lawyers don't need to go to the Procuratorate; they can review files directly online after identity verification.

It can be considered another step forward.

Lawyer's file review has gone through several stages. In the beginning, there were no electronic means; they had to go to the Procuratorate and slowly make copies, some even had to copy by hand, which took a long time.

This was too inefficient. Later, when smartphones came out, it became relatively easier, as they could take photos.

For cases with many files, just taking photos could take half a day, so at that time, when lawyers went to review files, their phones absolutely needed to have sufficient battery.

After that, the so-called electronic file review began, but it wasn't what many people imagined; instead, it involved burning CDs.

Lawyers would bring blank CDs, and the Procuratorate would have CD burners to directly burn the corresponding electronic files onto the CDs.

For larger cases, a lawyer might need a dozen or so CDs at once, all of which they had to prepare themselves.

Don't ask why they couldn't just bring a USB drive to copy; when have you ever seen the internal network of the public security, Procuratorate, and Court systems allow you to plug in a USB drive?

Don't even complain about this CD burning; if you're interested, you can search it up. Some local Courts didn't even set up CD burners until 2021, and it was even specifically reported...

And now, some economically developed regions have started implementing online file review, which is what real electronic file review is.

The efficiency is much higher than before. Previously, to review files, one had to contact the prosecutor in advance.

After all, prosecutors have many cases at hand, and sometimes they also have to attend training or meetings, so lawyers had to wait.

Electronic file review is much easier. You log in to the procuratorial system's website or mini-program, and if you haven't registered, you register your personal lawyer information.

Then you apply to bind the case, providing some information, such as the case name, and the client's name and ID number.

Then you need to provide supporting documents, such as a power of attorney and a certificate issued by the law firm, similar to what's submitted for offline file review. You upload these and then wait for the Procuratorate to review them.

Once approved, they send you a message, and the case is bound to your account. You can then log in directly to review the files, which is very convenient.

Time slowly passed. In Jingnan District Procuratorate, Prosecutor Li Huanshan, thirty-six years old this year, was conducting a review. She was the handling prosecutor for the "Zhang Yunfan Extortion Case."

Looking at the information on her computer, Li Huanshan's brows furrowed: "Zhou Yun? This Zhang Yunfan case actually caught Zhou Yun's attention?"

By now, almost everyone in Jinghai City's political and legal system knew about a lawyer named Zhou Yun.

Especially some overworked Police Officer, like Old Hong, who is now almost suffering from PTSD at the mention of Zhou Yun's name.

What normal person reports a crime with two vans full of evidence? And he couldn't even refuse.

While approving, Li Huanshan began to think about the case. She was very clear about this case, after all, the arrest approval also went through her.

Why was the arrest approved? The reason was simple: the other party showed no intention of pleading guilty, and if he were released on bail, there was a high probability he would retaliate.

Another crucial point was that there was no return of illicit gains.

This was complete non-cooperation, so the arrest was carried out directly.

But now, seeing that Lawyer Zhou had taken the case, Li Huanshan started to get a headache.

Normally, there shouldn't be any problem with this case. She needed to think about how to communicate with Lawyer Zhou.

It's still the same old saying: if there's no arrest approval, there's no conflict between the Procuratorate and the lawyer, but after the arrest approval, it's different.

If it eventually results in an innocent verdict, the Procuratorate has to pay compensation, and the performance review of the handling person below will be significantly affected.

After completing the review, Li Huanshan immediately began contacting the victim's side. She now had two tasks: one was to try to get Zhang Yunfan to plead guilty and accept punishment, and the other was to see if there was a possibility of criminal reconciliation.

In the current situation, the latter needed to be done first, because only after reconciliation could it be easier to persuade them to plead guilty and accept punishment, and strive for a suspended sentence.

In Jingnan District, Jinghai City, Liu Jiale, thirty-one years old this year, was at home scrolling on his phone. He was the victim in the case, meaning the adulterer.

An adulterer usually needs to possess one of the qualities of 'Pan, Lu, Deng, Xiao, Xian' (handsome, rich, talented, leisurely, charming), and Liu Jiale was good-looking, could talk and coax people, and most importantly, he was very idle.

Just then, his phone rang. Liu Jiale answered: "Hello, who is it?"

"Oh, from the Procuratorate. Criminal reconciliation, right? I definitely want to reconcile."

"Demands? Well, he beat me up so badly back then..."

"How about this then: tomorrow morning, you come to the Procuratorate, and communicate with the other party to see if it works."

At the Procuratorate, Li Huanshan hung up the phone after receiving the reply. Everyone knew about this case; it was originally caused by Liu Jiale, but there was nothing that could be done, as the law does not provide for adultery.

So, even though you know the other party has significant moral issues, you just can't do anything about him.

Now, it was up to Lawyer Zhou. Thinking this, Li Huanshan picked up the phone again.

Inside the law firm, Lawyer Zhou received the message that the review was approved and immediately began logging in to review the case file.

Soon, he saw the first piece of evidence, which was the other party's report of the crime. The time was... one month after the act of catching them in the act!

One month later? This person only reported the crime one month later?

Just as Lawyer Zhou was thinking, his phone rang. He picked it up and answered.

"Hello, this is Zhou Yun. Criminal reconciliation?"