My days as a landlord in Gotham

Under Li Lei's struggle, although the man in uniform has not yet obtained the approval document from the Supreme Tribunal, he still transferred Li Lei to a small suite with special guards.

Li Lei looked at this small suite, which is actually a bedroom and study room with a bathroom, the area is very limited.

There is only a single bed, a single wardrobe, and a small combination desk in the bedroom and study room; as for the bathroom, don’t expect any shower or bathtub, just a flushing shower, a toilet, and a sink.

Although the room is very simple, but for those who are about to face "ultimate obliteration"

For Li Lei who was punished, there was nothing to be picky about.

There is a computer on the desk, which is actually made in a human-like style. Li Lei took a look at it. The operating system and network system are also human-like technology, and there is no special obstacle in using it.

As for the reader on the desk, all the legal documents of the Time Bureau have been built in, and at the same time, Li Lei is allowed to read in any earth language he knows.

Li Lei first searched for similar cases on the Internet, but he couldn't find similar cases or cases of similar grades in the time bureau database on the Internet.

It seems that a case of my own level is a case with a high degree of secrecy even in the Time Bureau, and public inquiries are not allowed.

Since he couldn't find any similar cases to help him, Li Lei had no choice but to use the most stupid method, which was to read all the legal documents by himself, and then find the judgments or clauses that could support his point of view.

After all, Li Lei also worked in a law firm. He knew very well why big-name lawyers charged so much, because apart from his own fame, they needed such a group of assistants.

And the more famous the lawyer, the higher the level of his assistant.

Why do we need qualified and capable assistants?

Because these assistants have to help lawyers find clauses and precedents that can support the barrister's arguments in the vast legal documents and federal and state cases, as well as what limitations these clauses and precedents have, and how to break through or make up for these limitations.

One of the reasons why individual lawyers tend to lose the case when the other party is a barrister is that they do not have so much time to find suitable arguments.

Now Li Lei is such an unlucky individual lawyer. Not only does he have no one to help him collect evidence, but more importantly, he is like a student who has just entered law school. He has not even studied the legal text here carefully.

I don't know that Li Lei spent a few days in the small room. Li Lei felt that he just ate whatever he wanted when he was hungry, and relied on strong tea and strong coffee to resist tiredness when he was sleepy. Just taking a nap at the desk.

While Li Lei was checking the law and taking notes, the man in uniform came to Li Lei's room.

He coughed lightly, signaling Li Lei to notice him.

"Mr. Li, according to the resolution of the Supreme Court, you will participate in the pre-trial hearing in 12 hours.

At that time, the grand jury will decide whether you are qualified to represent yourself as a defender. If there is no problem, please sign the notice. "

After finishing speaking, the man in uniform handed a transparent screen to Li Lei.

Li Lei signed on the screen, and then authenticated his fingerprints.

"thank you for your notice.

If it is convenient, could you please notify me in 10 hours?

By the way, please bring me a set of official uniforms that you use here. "

Li Lei said, "Besides, I haven't washed my face or brushed my teeth here, can you also bring me some bath products?

For a fee, you can find Ted. "

"It's okay, these requests of yours are reasonable requests, and the Time Bureau has a corresponding budget to pay for your needs."

The man in uniform replied.

"If nothing else, then I'm leaving."

After Li Lei said goodbye to the man in uniform, he stopped what he was doing, and then lay down on the bed for the first time and began to sleep.

Li Lei has a general understanding that this so-called Supreme Tribunal actually refers to the common law system on Earth, especially the American judicial system.

Li Lei is well aware that in American courts, the appearance and mental state of the defendant often determine the attitude of the jury.

That's why many lawyers try to avoid their clients being detained in court but strive for bail, because anyone who is detained for a period of time will definitely become very depressed in appearance and mental state.

Especially once you are in custody, you will definitely wear prison uniforms. If the parties appear in court wearing prison uniforms, this will undoubtedly imply that the jury parties are guilty.

Because jurors are not professional legal staff, their first impression often determines their final vote.

Therefore, when a barrister goes to court, he will spend a lot of money to hire an image designer to design an image for the client.

For example, put on a decent suit, which will make jurors feel that the defendant is a middle-class man with a stable income, so they can identify with him in image and subconsciously think that he may not break the law; then many defendants will get used to being asked to wear A pair of more stable glasses, because the glasses will not only imply that the juror defendant is a person who has studied and understand the law, but also the glasses can modify the defendant's too fierce or obscene eyes, so as not to reduce the first impression in the eyes of the jurors.

In any case, if you don't take a good rest, you may be sluggish when you go to court, and it's useless to wear the best clothes.

Therefore, Li Lei resolutely gave up searching for information, but slept soundly.

When Li Lei was awakened, he felt that his mental state had improved a lot.

He looked at himself in the full-length mirror next to the wardrobe. Although he was a bit sloppy, his eyes were very bright.

Li Lei was very satisfied with his state. At the same time, he also saw the whole set of clothes brought by the man in uniform, even the leather shoes and socks; as well as the bath products and personal cleaning tools beside the clothes.

It seems that the man in uniform is looking for products from the earth on purpose, lest Li Lei won't be able to use them.

Li Lei took a shower in the bathroom. The shampoo and body wash found by the man in uniform were all herbal products, so the fragrance was very light and almost non-invasive.

Li Lei shaved his messy beard clean with a razor, and then chose a rather mature cologne to slap on his neck.

In the end, Li Lei changed into all the clothes and shoes provided by the man in uniform, but his original set of clothes already smelled a little sour, so he naturally threw them into the garbage dump and waited for someone to dispose of them.

Li Lei, who had taken care of his personal image well, stood in front of the man in uniform with a very mature and refreshing appearance. The man in uniform looked at Li Lei a few times, and then said, "Mr. Li, you look very convincing now.

Although I cannot express support or sympathy for you based on my work responsibilities, I still hope that you can get the fairness and justice you expect from the Supreme Court. "

"Thank you."

Li Lei's thanks come from the bottom of my heart.

Because although the man in uniform in front of him is obliged to do things for himself, he doesn't have to be so good at all.

It's the same shower gel, he can provide the kind that is full of strong and inferior chemical fragrance, and then make Li Lei feel like a low-level hooligan in front of the jurors.

Similarly, the suit Li Lei was wearing was also high-end.

It is actually easy to see the difference between high-end and low-end clothes such as suits, and Li Lei knows that a good suit can easily help him win the favor of the jurors.

However, Li Lei was very surprised that the grand jury was dispatched this time, although according to the practice of the Anglo-American legal system, serious crimes like Li Lei involving the death penalty must be reviewed by the grand jury before the trial.

If the grand jury believes that the prosecution's evidence does not meet the crime he is seeking, the grand jury can reject the case before it officially goes to trial.

The public prosecutor either gave up the prosecution, or could only choose relatively minor crimes for re-examination.

Therefore, the defense side is actually very unlikely to encounter a grand jury, and now the other side wants to examine whether they are qualified to defend on their own behalf and has used a grand jury. It seems that the other party does not know how to review this matter.

Li Lei was taken by the man in uniform to a place similar to an auditorium, and the man in uniform said, "I can't enter it, so it's up to you next."

After speaking, the man in uniform knocked on the door.

After a while, a man who was probably a bailiff came out to look at the man in uniform and Li Lei. After the man in uniform handed a reader to the bailiff, the bailiff took it and motioned for Li Lei to follow him into the auditorium.

When Li Lei stepped into the auditorium, the door of the auditorium was quickly closed.

The light in the auditorium is very soft, but the atmosphere is very serious.

Li Lei was signaled by the bailiff to stand at a position similar to a podium, and opposite to him was a high desk. Behind the desk was the presiding judge of the hearing, and there were three people seated under the presiding judge, respectively. A clerk and assistant to the court.

And behind the judge are 50 members of the grand jury. To Li Lei's surprise, there is a screen in front of these members to block the line of sight between him and them. It seems that he wants to use his first impression to win over the jurors. Ideas fail.

"Mr. Li, you have been sued by the Time Bureau for severely disrupting the timeline. If the lawsuit is established, you will be obliterated by the judgment.

However, we found that you requested to represent yourself in this trial. Since there is no such precedent, the purpose of this hearing is to examine your eligibility to represent yourself. "

The court assistant got up and said, "If there are no other questions, the jury will first hear Mr. Li's statement of your application, then the jury members will have five opportunities to ask you questions, and finally the grand jury will vote whether to allow you to serve as your own defense .

Since this review is not a review of crimes and penalties, the unanimous consent of the grand jury is not required, only a simple majority is required.

If there is a tie in the end, it will be handed over to the judge to decide.

Any procedural and disciplinary rulings in this hearing shall be decided by the judge. "

When the court assistant sat down and motioned for Li Lei to state his reasons, Li Lei got up and explained his reasons.

In fact, Li Lei's reason is very simple. According to the relevant regulations of the Time Bureau, anyone must be assisted by a defender when being tried by the Supreme Tribunal. At the same time, because the Supreme Tribunal has not established the so-called judicial assistance clause, Li Lei cannot obtain Therefore, Li Lei can only act as a defender himself, otherwise it will lead to serious flaws in the formal trial process, and also violate the "fairness clause"

Li Lei finally stated: "If the grand jury refuses to serve as my defender, then we will have to face one of the most embarrassing trial procedures.

That is, my basic rights as a defendant have not been fully and effectively protected, so the entire trial procedure is unfair.

According to the two basic requirements that the trial must be 'fair' and 'just', I can propose to abolish the procedure of my trial immediately after you reject my request, because you have violated the basic requirements. "

"Mr. Lee, my question is, if the grand jury now assigns an advocate to your trial, do you still insist on being your own attorney?"

A member of the grand jury, numbered 21, asked.

"I will refuse your assignment."

Li Lei replied calmly, "According to the trial regulations, the defender must be approved by the client before he can officially become the client's defender.

If the attorney is appointed by the grand jury, the attorney's interests are tied to the grand jury or Supreme Court, so I have every reason to doubt that he will defend me to the best of my ability.

Since the interests of the defender and the client are not consistent, does this violate the 'just clause'? "

"Mr. Li, if you don't approve of the defender we appointed, then what qualifications do you think you have to be your own defender?"

Another member of the grand jury, numbered 37, continued to ask, "You are not qualified to be a defender."

"I checked the relevant regulations. According to the regulations, as long as he is a legal citizen and has obtained the consent of the party, he can act as the party's defender.

There is no legal requirement that defenders must be qualified as defenders. "

Li Lei knew that this pitfall would appear, so he deliberately found a lot of relevant clauses, "According to the current qualification review of defenders, his review organization is the Defenders Association.

What is important is that the Defenders Association is not a member of the judiciary, let alone a legislative body, so it has no right to decide whether citizens can become defenders.

In fact, the so-called defender's qualifications are just a review test of whether they can become a defender's association, and have nothing to do with the Supreme Court.

I recognize myself as my defender, which is in line with the procedure. "

"Then I will continue to ask Mr. Li the question of juror No. 37 just now. You just said that in addition to obtaining the approval of the parties, there is an additional condition of being a 'legal citizen'. Mr. Li does not meet this requirement."

Juror No. 31 said.

"I am a legal citizen before the Supreme Court makes a formal judgment. I wonder if juror No. 31 has any opinion on the 'presumption of innocence'?"

Li Lei was laughing like crazy in his heart. He knew that the academic qualifications of the jurors were uneven, but what he didn't expect was that someone would ask such a question.

Li Lei decided to seize this opportunity to fight back, otherwise he would be too sorry for his lawyer certificate.

"I now raise a question to the court, isn't the Supreme Tribunal adopting the principle of 'presumption of innocence'?

Why did the grand jury members find me guilty before I even had a trial verdict?

I am here to question the impartiality of the grand jury, and I also doubt whether the grand jury's pre-trial review of my case was justified! "

"The court has recorded the party's challenge, and the court will reply to the party's challenge within the next 120 hours."

The judge said rather helplessly, "If the parties have doubts about the composition and impartiality of the grand jury, they can propose a re-examination to the Supreme Court.

Given that the review time will be relatively long, the court proposes that the parties may propose a plea bargain. "

Li Lei is well aware of the shortcomings of the grand jury system. In fact, since the grand jury only communicates with the public prosecutor one-way, the grand jury not only has no effect on the power of the public prosecutor, but to a certain extent allows the public prosecutor to abuse it. Public power.

You must know that in the United States, which still retains the grand jury system in the Anglo-American legal system, the grand jury has been ridiculed by many lawyers and jurists as "the rubber stamp of the prosecutor".

Fortunately, the grand jury system in the United States is only suitable for felonies in federal courts, and is useless for misdemeanors, minor crimes, and crimes applicable to state courts. Otherwise, Li Lei feels that the grand jury system in the United States may also be like a Its country of origin, the United Kingdom, was cancelled. After all, the existence of this system is purely to protect the public prosecutor.

After Li Lei's questioning, the remaining few questions were a little painless.

The judge quickly announced the end of the questioning session, and then asked Li Lei and the grand jury to exit separately.

The grand jury exited and entered the closed meeting room to vote, while Li Lei exited to the rest area outside the auditorium to wait for news.

When Li Lei was staring at the ceiling in a daze on the bench in the rest area, a man in a dark gray suit and a red tie without sunglasses appeared in front of Li Lei.

He stretched out his hand and said, "Mr. Li, right?

I'm an Assistant Attorney in the Legal Division of the Time Bureau representing the prosecution in your case. It's a pleasure to meet you. "

After shaking Li Lei's hand, he continued, "I just got the news that you have unfairly questioned the pre-trial review of this case due to an inappropriate statement made by a certain grand jury member.

The internal review department of the Supreme Court has launched a corresponding investigation, but the investigation will take a lot of time, I think in order to quickly end this case, I can give Mr. Li a proposal.

If Mr. Li withdraws your question, then we can adjust your crime to a moderate crime, what do you think? "

"A moderate crime?

Your sentence reduction is still very large. "

Li Lei couldn't help but mocked.

From extremely serious crimes to moderate crimes, this is almost equivalent to downgrading from first-degree murder to manslaughter. Li Lei doesn't even know if the prosecutors here have collectively been caught by the door.

But Li Lei didn't want to go to the so-called chaotic zone, so he shook his head.

"I can't feel your sincerity.

If I were you I would suggest 'free from prosecution' or even drop all charges.

After all, I can feel that you are bound to lose this time.

If you can't even pass the pre-trial review, then it's time for your legal department to lose face.

I guess you don't want your pretrial review to be so bad, do you?

After all, there are many defenders waiting to exonerate their clients. Do you think my method will point them in a direction? "

"Mr. Li, are you threatening me?"

The man in the dark gray suit said angrily.

Li Lei likes the way the other party is angry, because once a person is angry, he will lose his mind.

No one wins at any time, especially at the negotiating table and in court.

Li Lei smiled and said, "Why not?

Is there any law that forbids me to express my opinion on my case?

I am not breaking any law as long as I do not reveal what my witnesses, attorneys, prosecutors, and judges have said.

You see, jurors are not included in the embargoed remarks.

Mr. Assistant Attorney, if you can't make the final decision, then you get someone else who can.

From now on, I give you 24 hours.

If I don't see your sincerity after 24 hours, I think I'll find a reporter for coffee. "

"you!"

The face of the man in the dark gray suit was a little distorted, "Okay, you're ruthless!

I will contact you in 24 hours. "

After watching the man in the suit leave, Li Lei waited for more than half an hour and finally got the jury's verdict.

The grand jury agreed to Li Lei's request to serve as his own defense with 32 votes in favor, 12 against and 6 abstentions. At the same time, the judge also expressed satisfaction when he learned that Li Lei was negotiating with the Department of Justice.

The judge said: "Mr. Li, perhaps your ability is better than most of the defenders, but you are a very serious crime, and any negligence will lead to your irreversible disappearance forever.

If possible, I still recommend that you reach an agreement with the Legal Department.

Good luck! "

"Thank you, Your Excellency."

Li Lei bowed slightly, then turned and left the auditorium.

His first shot in the time bureau finally fired. Li Lei's goal was not for misdemeanor or moderate crimes, let alone "immunity from prosecution"

What Li Lei wants is to "dismiss the case"

Since he wanted to pursue innocence, Li Lei wanted to be completely innocent.

In order not to leave a criminal record in the time bureau, and then one day the time bureau finds that he is not pleasing to the eye, count the crimes and punish him, and it's over.

In the future, I will completely avoid dealing with people from the Time Bureau.

Li Lei found his temporary residence according to the address left by the uniformed man, and the uniformed man happened to be wandering outside his residence.

Seeing Li Lei, there was a hint of joy in his tone, "I heard about you, but I didn't expect you to embarrass the grand jury so much.

And what surprised me the most is that I heard that the Legal Department has made a compromise with you, but you still refused them? "

"Yes, I turned them down because they were so insincere."

Li Lei looked at the man in uniform, "But as a member of the Time Bureau, shouldn't you be on the opposite side?

Why are you so happy when I succeeded? "

"The time bureau also has departments, right?"

The man in uniform replied, "Our Law Enforcement Department has long disliked those guys from the Legal Department.

It is their credit for winning the case, and it is because we did not do a good job in collecting evidence if we lost the case.

Don't even think about themselves, they have a grand jury to help review it once, and they can still lose the case in court.

Although it is normal to win or lose, but if we lose, we will shirk the responsibility to us. This is unreasonable anyway, right?

So, I don't like them. "

Li Lei did not follow his lead and said that no matter how many conflicts there were between the Law Enforcement Division and the Legal Affairs Division, they were all internal conflicts within their time bureau; while his own conflicts were related to the entire time bureau.

Li Lei exchanged pleasantries with the man in uniform before returning to his room.

Although Li Lei had won a round in the hearing, Li Lei didn't think he was sure of winning.

He first logged on to the website of the Supreme Tribunal and inquired about the review status of his two challenge cases concerning the impartiality of the grand jury and the procedural controversy of the pre-trial trial of his case.

Unexpectedly, the speed of the Supreme Tribunal of the Time Bureau is quite fast, and both of my questioning cases have entered the investigation stage.

Presumably these two challenge cases should have put a lot of pressure on the Legal Department, right?

"The host's performance in today's hearing was really amazing, which made the committee look very impressed."

Not long after Li Lei rested, he saw Ted.

Ted connected a reader to Li Lei's and said, "Here are some cases that the committee found for you, I hope it can help you.

Then the committee gave you a suggestion, if possible, it is best to force the time bureau to withdraw your case, otherwise it will be troublesome to leave your case in the time bureau. "

"I know."

Li Lei suddenly remembered something, "What do you think about Hamada Hiroshi and the others?

I have been away for so long. "

"The Time Bureau has the power to adjust the timeline.

If the host is released back, then, for others, their time will not pass a second.

That is to say, except for the host himself, no one in your world knows that you have ever left. "

"Oh?

Is it possible that someone has left this world, and I don't know about it? "

"Probably not. After all, that dimension belongs to the host, and the Time Bureau cannot conceal the host's right to know for others."