I Became a Law School Genius – 48



I Became a Genius Law School Student Episode 48

“Time limit is up. “Participants please move to the mock court.”

Just as I was barely able to finish writing the document the teaching assistant in charge of the supervisor relayed that message.

“Wow it’s really tight. “I almost couldn’t finish it all.”

“Real.”

The two team members broke into a cold sweat. I also didn’t show it but I was barely able to take a breather.

This is because there were more factors to consider than expected and it took a long time to review the data and share opinions.

But all of this is just a preparation process.

The real fight begins now.

It was a time when we had to strengthen our resolve even more.

“Then let’s go.”

So I led my team and headed to the mock court.

“It was a lot of hard work. “Let’s skip the other procedures and listen to everyone’s statements first.”

Jang Yong-hwan sat on the judge’s bench in the same posture as when we entered staring at everyone.

Simply put a general statement is a procedure that outlines one’s argument.

If it is the prosecutor’s side it is expressed in the form that the defendant committed such-and-such an act and that it falls under such-and-such crime under several articles of the Criminal Act.

The defendant’s side is making it clear that it acknowledges or does not admit this.

Therefore the order is to hear the prosecutor’s full statement first and then the defendant will give a full statement.

“Respected Judge.”

As if it was natural for the other team Jeong Min-sik appeared again as the representative and boosted their luck.

As if taking the form of a mock court he bowed towards Jang Yong-hwan who was sitting on the judge’s bench as if he had seen something there before.

“The defendant Kim Gap-dong stabbed the victim ‘Na Pi-hae’ to death with a knife and then fled while driving his vehicle in a drunken state.”

First let’s clearly state the facts of the indictment that is what the defendant actually did.

“This is a serious crime that is clearly equivalent to murder under Article 250 of the Criminal Act and drunk driving under Article 44 of the Road Traffic Act. “During the trial this prosecutor will present specific evidence regarding the defendant’s motive for the crime the method of murder and the process of running away after the crime.”

Declares the laws and guilt applicable to him/her. It was a clean and basic composition.

Now that the prosecutor’s statement was over it was our turn.

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“Do you admit the defendant’s crime?”

Unlike the prosecutor’s full statement the defendant’s full statement only requires an acknowledgment of the facts of the crime claimed by the prosecutor.

If you answer ‘yes’ here it will be a ‘sentencing argument’ that acknowledges the crime but aims to reduce the sentence and if you answer ‘no’ you will have to present a ‘not guilty plea’ that will prevent proof of guilt.

The moment when everyone’s attention is focused.

“no.”

I answered quietly.

“The defendant completely denies all the charges. “The prosecution does not have any evidence to prove the defendant’s guilt.”

“What what?”

Jeong Min-sik was shocked.

“Hey are you kidding me? Did you really come in without reading the records? “What kind of nonsense are you talking about when there is such a mountain of evidence?”

“Be quiet.”

Jang Yong-hwan warns him and only then does he keep his mouth shut.

‘There is a mountain of evidence.’

But eventually they will all become unusable items.

Because I will make it happen.

“As the defendant has denied the charges we will begin the process of admitting evidence.”

If you answer that you will not admit to a crime the process of arguing over evidence and legal principles begins in earnest.

‘Admission of evidence’ is the process by which the defendant admits or denies each piece of evidence submitted.

At this time the evidence admitted by the defendant must be accepted in its entirety and the truth of the evidence denied must be re-examined through evidence investigation or witness interrogation.

However this legal argument does not involve directly examining evidence or calling witnesses.

This is because all necessary information is already included in the records provided in advance.

Therefore the evidence investigation process is carried out by pointing out or defending against problems using data already available.

“The first piece of evidence is… the defendant Kim Gap-dong’s breathalyzer record. Do you accept the defendant’s evidence?”

This is evidence that we reviewed it first and discovered the problem. I answered with a confident voice.

“I don’t admit it.”

“no…!”

Jeong Min-sik gave me an absurd look but that didn’t change my position.

“Do you…admit the second evidence?”

“I don’t admit it.”

“Third… Do you admit it?”

“I don’t admit it.”

Next the same questions and answers were asked about all the evidence.

“Since the defendant denied all evidence we will begin evidence investigation procedures.”

The time has come.

First the first evidence Kim Gap-dong’s breathalyzer record was put on the chopping block.

“This evidence clearly proves that Kim Gap-dong’s blood alcohol concentration at the time of driving was above the standard violating Article 44 of the Road Traffic Act. There is no problem in applying the Widmark formula so why…”

“It’s a problem at the previous stage.”

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“The step before that?”

I went in cutting off Jeong Min-sik’s words.

“Your honor please look at the statement from the judicial police officer in charge regarding the circumstances in which the breathalyzer record was obtained.”

At the same time the statement was overlapped with the breathalyzer record and held high.

“According to this affidavit the judicial police officer in charge of the breathalyzer test forcibly opened the room door and conducted a breathalyzer test upon seeing Kim Gap-dong’s condition even though Kim Gap-dong clearly refused and said ‘Come back later.’”

“What does it matter!”

“Article 308-2 of the Criminal Procedure Act. “Illegal collection of evidence.”

“…!”

“Compulsory investigations such as searches can only be carried out with a warrant. In this case even though a search was initiated against the defendant’s will a warrant was not obtained and it does not fall under exceptional circumstances that allow for a search without a warrant.”

I looked straight at Jeong Min-sik.

“The breathalyzer record obtained based on an illegal search is secondary evidence and is equally illegal evidence based on the theory of poisoning and poisoning which is one of the basic principles of criminal procedure law. Therefore the prosecution cannot use this evidence to prove Kim Gap-dong’s drunk driving charges.”

There is no problem with the content and authenticity of the evidence itself the breathalyzer record.

In fact Kim Gap-dong was driving drunk and the records left by the police officer clearly reveal that fact.

Therefore the point that needs to be looked at for the defense is not the evidence itself.

If you only look at what is immediately apparent on the surface no matter how many times you roll your eyes you will not get an answer.

The key was to point out the illegality in the situation that was secretly hidden in the shadow of the evidence.

“That kind of thing…!”

Jeong Min-sik’s complexion turned pale.

“But just because the evidence for a drunk driving charge is denied doesn’t mean it’s over! “Isn’t there still evidence left to prove Kim Gap-dong’s murder charge?”

“That’s a valid point.”

I nodded.

“So let’s take a look now.”

I picked up the second piece of evidence in the list of evidence.

This time the target was a weapon with Kim Gap-dong’s fingerprints and the victim’s blood traces on it.

“Your Honor the weapon in question is evidence that clearly proves the murder of defendant Kim Gap-dong and the method of obtaining it was confiscated through voluntary submission so there will be no problem.”

Jeong Min-sik emphasized it proudly.

Criminal Procedure Act Article 218: Seizure of voluntary submissions.

The rule states that items submitted by the owner holder or custodian may be confiscated and inspected at will.

In general in order to carry out a compulsory investigation such as search and seizure various strict conditions must be met including the issuance of a warrant.

However this is not the case in the case of voluntary submissions.

Since it is an item submitted of one’s own volition it can be used as evidence without any restrictions.

“The question is who submitted it ‘randomly’ on their own.”

“What?

I poured cold water on the triumphant Jeong Min-sik.

“Please look at the report on the seizure of the weapon. Who is the person who randomly handed over the weapon here? Could it be that the owner the defendant Kim Gap-dong himself? no.”

He pointed to a section in the seizure record.

“The person who submitted this weapon is the manager of the mansion where Kim Gap-dong lives. “He opened Kim Gap-dong’s door to inspect the facility found a bloody weapon and secretly took it out and submitted it to the police.”

“What’s the problem with that?”

Jeong Min-sik protested.

“According to Article 218 of the Criminal Procedure Act voluntary submission can be made not only by the owner of the object but also by the possessor. “Once the manager brought out the weapon couldn’t he legally hand it over as the holder?”

“You worked hard studying criminal procedure law.”

I twitched the corner of my mouth.

Jeong Min-sik was definitely a talented guy.

Accurately read the provisions related to search and seizure and use them as evidence to support your claim.

There was only one way to achieve this level of mastery of criminal procedure law in a short period of time.

‘You knew it too. To prepare for this competition you must first study investigation and evidence.’

If so it was quite an insight.

Or perhaps you sought advice from someone with experience preparing.

‘but.’

That wasn’t enough.

Condolences are the starting point and foundation of all study and above all a powerful weapon but they do not teach everything you need.

“Are the prosecutors aware of the issue of ‘evidence illegally collected by a private person’?”

“Illegal collection of signatures…?”

Illegal collection of evidence is a regulation created to protect people from the brutality of investigative and public authorities.

Therefore in principle only the illegality of the investigation conducted by the police or prosecutors is questioned.

“However even if the investigative agency does not directly commit a violation of the law there are many cases in which someone’s basic rights are violated during the investigation process. “For example if an unrelated person illegally eavesdrops on my voice or illegally films my actions and hands it over to the police.”

In this case the investigative agency did nothing directly wrong.

In any case I just researched items that were randomly submitted.

The problem is that the ‘random submitter’ obtained the object in an illegal manner in the first place.

Voyeurism or wiretapping is a clear crime in itself.

The same applies if someone steals something I own and submits it as evidence.

Ultimately if we admit to securing evidence in this way we cannot prevent the violation of basic rights.

In the worst case there is a risk of an investigative agency secretly instigating individuals to illegally obtain evidence and then using it under the pretense of accidentally receiving the evidence.

“Therefore there is discussion that evidence obtained through illegal means by a person other than public authority should also be regarded as illegally collected evidence. The precedent also holds that the admissibility of evidence must be judged by comparing the necessity of adopting evidence and the rights and interests that have been violated.”

I waved the photo of the weapon.

“This weapon is the property of the defendant Kim Gap-dong. It’s something he bought for a fair price. “The act of arbitrarily stealing private property regardless of the purpose is naturally a crime of theft under criminal law and evidence obtained as a result of such a criminal act cannot be acknowledged as arbitrarily submitted.”

Even the weapon which seemed to be the strongest piece of evidence was crossed off the evidence list.

Jeong Min-sik just watched my argument blankly at a loss for words.

“The third piece of evidence is….”

“The fourth piece of evidence is also….”

“This is hearsay evidence and the defendant does not agree to use it as evidence.”

In addition numerous pieces of evidence that were considered evidence were shattered by each person’s own logic.

Suddenly the tower of incriminating evidence that seemed to point to Kim Gap-dong’s guilt more firmly than anything else in the world had lost its shape and was dismantled one by one.

I didn’t discover anything new.

They did not reveal the truth by calling witnesses they could not have known in advance.

I simply pointed out that these were foul cards that went against the ‘rules’ of the game called criminal trial by looking back one by one on the hints contained in the data given from the beginning.

A few ideas and a few words can completely turn every situation around.

Before I knew it there was not a single piece of evidence left in the data that could be used to prove Kim Gap-dong’s guilt.

Jeong Min-sik who was staring at the whole situation with nowhere to go barely managed to spit out a single word in a trembling voice.

“But still.”

It seemed as if he was grasping for the last straw.

“Isn’t there still a confession left!”

That is the last protest that Jeong Min-sik can come up with at this point.

“Defendant Kim Gap-dong already admitted all of his crimes at the first trial! “The first trial record that records this is a document prepared by the court and is evidence beyond doubt!”

That’s right.

Defendant Kim Gap-dong has already confessed to all of his crimes while standing in the defendant’s chair once.

Starting with the method of murder the timing and the motive he confessed everything that anyone who was not the criminal would ever know.

That in itself was powerful evidence.

Because it was done in a court of law there are no procedural issues and it is the only piece of evidence whose existence I cannot logically deny.

If there is any evidence to prove guilt the decision to convict based on that evidence is left solely to the judge’s conscience and free judgment.

Although the probability of obtaining a guilty verdict would be much lower than fighting with dozens of objective evidence it was not an impossible fight.

Jeong Min-sik’s last winning move.

I faced it.

“I admit it.”

I simply agreed.

“…?”

“The defendant confessed to all crimes in the first trial. You can’t deny that fact. Even if you make a different claim now it would still be the same.”

But while doing this I poked Hanseol.

“huh? Huh? me?”

“Okay it’s your turn.”

In fact this issue had already come up while preparing for the defense.

We put our heads together and thought about what to do with the only piece of evidence left and Hanseol came up with the perfect solution.

‘As expected he is a reliable team member.’

Therefore it would be right to give the finishing blow that will kill the enemy to her.

Cooperation and smooth division of roles among team members can also be reflected as additional points.

Han Seol was also embarrassed to be suddenly singled out but as it was a part he had prepared he quickly adjusted his posture and cleared his throat.

‘good. Show me what a flimsy pile of straw he’s holding on to.’

Hanseol finally finished preparing and opened his mouth.