Chapter 19: Live Long Enough to See It! A Judge Apologizes to a Lawyer?

With twenty minutes until the trial began, presiding judge Feng Jianjun, along with two other judges, jurors, and law enforcement officers, gradually entered the courtroom.

As required, the courtroom staff turned on the recording equipment and started the live broadcast.

Instantly, the number of viewers in the live broadcast exceeded sixty thousand, and it kept rising at an astonishing speed, breaking the record for the number of viewers at a time for courtroom live broadcasts.

"With twenty minutes until the trial, why hasn't Lin Chuan arrived yet?"

"Didn't he also come right on time last time? I'm used to it; this might be his tactic."

"The plaintiffs and the ruthless nun haven't arrived either. I guess there's traffic. There are too many people heading to the scene, and they're all stuck at the courthouse entrance."

...

As soon as the live broadcast started, the barrage was all about Lin Chuan.

Ever since Lin Chuan won a case for Ms. Zheng, he signed up with Douyin and became a legal awareness host, with his follower count rapidly approaching one million.

Therefore, the vast majority of the live broadcast's audience were Lin Chuan's fans.

Plaintiff Arrives

At 8:15, plaintiff Li Huihui and her lawyer Zhao Qiuxia arrived at the courtroom.

"Damn, no wonder that sucker brother was willing to pay a dowry of three hundred thousand; Li Huihui's figure is pretty good!"

"I just noticed in the close-up shot, she looks pretty too; men love this type."

"What's the use of being pretty? Will she marry you? She's only after money!"

"Right, right, right, when looking for a wife, look for someone virtuous; beautiful women like to control men and can't really be tamed."

...

As Li Huihui passed by the camera, her appearance appeared on the live broadcast screen.

Although everyone knew it was immoral for her to seek a dowry of three hundred thousand under the charge of rape, one had to admit, Li Huihui's looks and figure were indeed good; she didn't look like a thirty-year-old at all, no wonder Ma Ming was played around by her.

Plaintiff's Lawyer Prepares

At 8:20, the on-site staff finished debugging all the equipment and retired backstage.

And plaintiff lawyer Zhao Qiuxia was making her final preparations at the plaintiff's bench. She had heard of Lin Chuan's exploits and was on high alert.

Jingzhou was her home turf, and losing to a lawyer from another city on her own ground would be a huge loss of face.

Moreover, there were two ironclad pieces of evidence in this case:

One was the recording of the defendant Ma Ming, who admitted to rape himself, solidifying the charge of rape;

The other piece of evidence was even more direct: the police detected residual sperm in Li Huihui's bodily fluids.

With these two ironclad pieces of evidence in hand, plus the home advantage, the 28-year veteran lawyer would never allow herself to lose to Lin Chuan, who had just come out of his internship.

Trial Time Arrives

At 8:30, it was time for the trial to begin.

Presiding judge Feng Jianjun stretched his neck, looking towards the courtroom door, but there was no sign of movement.

"What's going on? Has Lin Chuan... given up?"

"Lin Chuan, does he think there's no hope of winning this defense, so to maintain a hundred percent success rate, he fled at the last moment?"

"Impossible! Do you guys not know Lin Chuan's strength? He's the man who took on three judges in court and sent one to prison; how could he back down?"

"What's going on? It's 8:30, the judge has already hammered the gavel; doesn't that signify the start of the trial?"

"Does anyone know what happens if a lawyer is late? Will they be sentenced?"

"Hahaha, sentence what? It's not that serious."

"If you're late by less than thirty minutes, at most you'll be reprimanded by the judge. If you're more than thirty minutes late, the trial might be rescheduled."

...

The live broadcast's audience didn't understand the consequences of being late to court and thought it was serious, after all, the courtroom is a solemn place.

But in reality, as long as you're less than thirty minutes late, there are no real consequences, at most you'll be scolded by the judge.

However, Lin Chuan's lateness made the audience nervous, but the presiding judge was secretly overjoyed.

Because Lin Chuan was the defense attorney in this trial, Feng Jianjun was anxious and worried about losing control of the courtroom's pace and being led by the nose by Lin Chuan.

But now that Lin Chuan was late, he could use this as an excuse to suppress Lin Chuan's momentum!

As long as he subdued Lin Chuan's momentum, Feng Jianjun wouldn't worry about controlling the pace of the trial later.

Lin Chuan is About to Make His Entrance

At 8:55, the judges and jurors were yawning and about to fall asleep.

And because Lin Chuan had not appeared for a long time, the number of viewers in the live broadcast also plummeted, leaving only twenty thousand.

With only five minutes left, if Lin Chuan and Ma Ming did not appear in the courtroom within five minutes, this case could only be rescheduled for another day.

And just when everyone thought it was over, creak, the door of the courtroom opened, pushed by someone.

Lin Chuan and Ma Ming appeared in everyone's view, panting.

"Damn, these two guys ran a hundred meters."

"Lin Chuan finally arrived; there's going to be a good show!"

"Let's start the trial, I can't wait to see how Lin Chuan will exonerate Ma Ming!"

...

As soon as Lin Chuan appeared, the dead live broadcast immediately came alive, and the number of viewers began to warm up.

Trial Begins

"Cough cough cough... Plaintiff Ma Ming and plaintiff's lawyer Lin Chuan, please return to the plaintiff's bench quickly."

Presiding judge Feng Jianjun gently tapped the gavel.

After the two sat down, Feng Jianjun began his plan.

"Plaintiff and plaintiff's lawyer, the court's originally scheduled trial time was October 30th at 8:30 am, do you know?"

'Yes.'

Lin Chuan glanced at Feng Jianjun, his brain working at high speed; he immediately understood what Feng Jianjun meant by his words, this was to target him.

"I won't talk about Ma Ming."

"Lin Chuan, as a lawyer, don't you know the importance of punctuality?"

"Anyone who studies law knows that the first class in political and legal majors is to discuss the spirit of punctuality; punctuality is the most basic requirement of a legal person."

"Lin Chuan, as a top graduate from a domestic law school, wouldn't you not know this?"

Feng Jianjun glared fiercely, slammed the gavel heavily, and tried hard to act angry.

"Judge, as a lawyer, of course, I know that punctuality is the basic requirement of a legal person."

"But."

"Being late can be divided into subjective and objective factors."

"If it's due to subjective factors, it's disrespectful to the court, to the jurors, and judges."

"However."

"If it's due to objective factors that cause lateness, it's not considered contempt of court."

Facing Feng Jianjun's aggressive move, Lin Chuan was not panicked, logically rigorous, and spoke clearly to defuse his offensive.

"Cough cough..."

Feng Jianjun did not expect the big move he had been holding back for half an hour to MISS.

"Additionally."

"Judge."

"According to the court's lateness rules."

"Anyone who is less than thirty minutes late, if there is a legitimate reason, does not need to be reprimanded by the judge."

Lin Chuan was very confident, his lateness had a legitimate reason, and he was not panicked.

"Go ahead, tell us what the reason is."

Feng Jianjun felt Lin Chuan's difficulty and knew this guy was not afraid of him.

"The Linxi Road, which is the necessary route to Jingzhou People's Court, had an accident; a large truck hit a van."

"The road conditions were not easy to travel."

"Ma Ming and I were delayed here for quite some time."

"Additionally."

"There are assholes who park illegally in the court parking lot."

"I arrived at the court parking lot at 8 o'clock, thinking of organizing some documents in the car."

"Damn, two cars on the left and right directly sandwiched my car, and I couldn't even open the door; Ma Ming and I were trapped in the car."

"If it weren't for the security guard uncle passing by, we would still be stuck in the car now!"

Lin Chuan stated his reasons for being late, and the tone was normal at first. But the following tone had a hint of sarcasm.

"After coming out, I wrote down the license plate numbers of these two assholes. One is Lu B33TY6, the other is Lu B58NN1."

"Judge Feng Jianjun, Judge Bai Jiahao, do you recognize these two license plate numbers?"

Lin Chuan's mouth curled into a bad smile.

And the two judges he named didn't dare to make a sound, burying their heads low, like two ostriches.

"Hey, what's going on? Didn't the brother just say that the latecomer would be reprimanded by the judge?"

"Now it's reversed!"

"A lawyer reprimanding a judge??"

The live broadcast's audience was confused, but Feng Jianjun and Bai Jiahao knew very well in their hearts that the two assholes Lin Chuan mentioned were their cars.

Previously, the court parking lot was very empty, but today many reporters took up all the spots. So Feng Jianjun and Bai Jiahao could only squeeze in, but they didn't expect anyone to be in the car, and it just happened to be Lin Chuan.

This was an embarrassing situation!

They wanted to use lateness to reprimand Lin Chuan, but instead, they were lectured by him.

Facing Lin Chuan's questioning, Feng Jianjun, the presiding judge, lost all his prestige in the courtroom!

"Sorry, lawyer Lin Chuan, we were too anxious and didn't know there was someone in the car, we sincerely apologize to you."

"The delay in the trial time was all our fault."

As soon as these words came out, the scene was in an uproar.

Really?

Two judges publicly apologized and admitted their mistakes to a lawyer in court!

And it's the defendant's lawyer...

This is too badass!