8 Chapter 8 Preparing for Trial, Selecting a Jury

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(Starting from the 11th this month, I will be updating twice daily. Author Germ wants to see if I can manage to write ten thousand words a day. If I can't complete it, well... I'll just stop making such promises. After all, Author Germ still has to go to work, so please forgive me, dear readers. (*^▽^*). Being busy with work can't be helped, and for a part-time author who keeps his lights on with love for writing, churning out ten thousand words a day is not as easy as eating or drinking... Lastly, I'm pleading for your recommendation tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation for updating, QAQ please...)

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Monday.

It is also the day the simulated court convenes.

At East University Law School, inside the male dormitory, two persons are preparing to go to court.

"Wow, Zhang Wei, can you help me tie my tie? It's... cough, it's stuck!"

"Calm down a bit, you're just too nervous."

"How can I be calm? This is my first time going to court!"

Little fatty Luo Xiaobu is in such a panic that he can't even tie his own tie anymore.

On the other hand, Zhang Wei is as serene as one can be, as if he's heading not to a court hearing but to the cafeteria instead.

"Speaking of which, it's your first time in court too, isn't it? How come you're not nervous at all?"

Luo Xiaobu observes the composed individual as if he's uncovered a blind spot.

"Go to court? It's not such a big deal."

Zhang Wei, however, shakes his head and finally fixes up Luo Xiaobu's tie to his satisfaction, then nods approvingly.

He pats the latter on the back, "Okay, ready to go to court!"

At the same time, he adds in his mind, "This is just a mock trial and the opponents are only students who haven't graduated from the law school yet. What's there to be nervous about? If it weren't for my turn to appear in court, I might have been struggling to stay awake."

At the dormitory entrance.

Xia Qianyue has been waiting there for some time.

She sees Zhang Wei and the other from afar and hastily waves to greet them.

"Oh, little fatty, you're all dressed up too. Don't get cold feet when you're in court later!"

Xia Qianyue knows Luo Xiaobu, but they don't talk much on regular days.

The reason why Xia Qianyue is initiating the greeting this time is that Luo Xiaobu has joined Zhang Wei's defense team.

Since he's one of us, it's natural to get acquainted.

"We'll... see how it goes..."

Luo Xiaobu hasn't yet recovered from the fear of going to court and doesn't even have the time to respond to Xia Qianyue's greeting.

For law school students, the first court appearance is indeed an ordeal, especially thinking about the potential questions the other party may pose, from what angle to argue, and how to approach the debate, these are challenges.

A trial is an art that severely tests one's tactics and ability to think on one's feet. Even if you prepare thoroughly before the hearing, a tricky question from the opposition can trip you up in an instant.

If you get stumped by the opponent, you might end up being humiliated in front of dozens or even hundreds of people, and that's why many law school students dread going to court.

The trio leaves the dormitory and is soon surrounded by the students waiting outside.

The Journalism Department is another popular department at East University, and many of its graduates end up working at the Dongfang Capital TV Station.

And now, these future stars of the journalism world, who have yet to graduate, have encircled the three of them.

"Zhang Wei, do you have any comments on the upcoming court hearing?"

"Zhang Wei, I didn't expect your first court appearance would be to sue the school's beauty. Many male students on the forum are attacking you personally. What do you have to say to them?"

"Also, how confident are you about this trial?"

"As the plaintiff, are your witnesses and evidence well-prepared? Do you know some other matters concerning the school beauty Jia Meili that you could share with everyone?"

"Moreover, Zhang Wei, it is rumored that you and Xia Qianyue, a student from the Criminal Investigation Department, were seen shopping together on Xiuyelou. Are you two in a relationship?"

These journalism students are fully displaying their paparazzi talents, firing off one question after another.

"Silly person!" Unable to do anything else, Zhang Wei has no choice but to make eye signals to a certain strong girl beside him.

"Make way, make way, we've still got a court hearing to get to!"

Xia Qianyue truly lives up to the name of Silly, taking the lead in the charge, with Zhang Wei and Luo Xiaobu following behind.

Silly's strength is formidable, and easily four or five students can't withstand her power. She forcefully opens up a path through the crowd.

Breaking free from the paparazzi's clutches, the three head straight for the auditorium.

Thankfully, on their way over, aside from the journalism students wanting to get the scoop, students from other departments behaved more restrainedly.

The auditorium is reached.

Upon seeing the solemn grandeur of the auditorium, Zhang Wei and his companions stop for a moment and then, under the watchful gaze of the surrounding students, walk inside.

There is still 1 hour until the court is in session.

Auditorium.

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Backstage preparation room.

There was a courtroom debate involving plaintiffs and defendants, so there were two preparation rooms.

Zhang Wei and his party were on one side of the auditorium, while Zhang Hui and Jia Meili were on the other side, with another preparation room reserved in between. This room would be put to use if both parties decided to settle, or if the jury needed to discuss the verdict.

Zhang Wei's side was brimming with confidence.

In the next room, Jia Meili and her group were equally confident.

At this very moment, in Preparation Room No. 2.

Feng Li pushed open the door of the room and hurried in.

"Senior sister, this is the latest witness list!"

The witness list was confirmed before the trial, and if there were additions, they would be reviewed in a pre-trial motion.

Neither side had motioned, so the witness list remained unchanged.

As a defense attorney, Zhang Hui took the list and glanced at it briefly before setting it down.

"It looks like this junior brother only has this much ability; every move has been anticipated by me!"

As she spoke, Zhang Hui's lips curled upwards, her eyes brimming with confidence.

She didn't look up, yet her tone suddenly shifted, "Is everything prepared for the first witness?"

Yuan Dong, who stood beside her, subconsciously nodded, but realizing Zhang Hui wasn't looking at him, he replied softly, "It's ready!"

Zhang Hui didn't respond, as if Yuan Dong had been talking to himself and not to her.

"Then, senior sister, I leave everything in your hands!" Jia Meili also nodded at Zhang Hui with an expectant look.

"Of course, how could I possibly lose to a junior brother with no trial record!"

At that moment, Zhang Hui was shining like a general about to claim victory, her eyes glowing with a triumphant spirit.

...

One hour later.

The trial was ready, and all the students had entered the auditorium.

Zhang Wei, leading Luo Xiaobu and Xia Qianyue, and Zhang Hui, leading Jia Meili, Yuan Dong, and Feng Li, entered the site of the trial set up in the center of the auditorium from the left and right entrances, respectively.

At the top of the judges' bench, the Deputy Dean of East University Law School, Geng Hongxia, was already seated.

She wore a black judge's robe, her face stern and her presence commanding.

As a law professor and deputy dean of the law school, her role as a judge was naturally within her grasp.

The court clerk was a female student from the student council, who was responsible for recording the details of the trial.

The defendant and plaintiff seats on both sides were where Zhang Wei and Zhang Hui, among others, took their places.

"Zhang Wei, as we are from the same school, and I am one year your senior, I am like your elder sister here, so be gentle in the courtroom, will you?"

Zhang Hui came over to Zhang Wei to extend pre-trial greetings.

Although her tone was quite humble, the verbal sparring set to unfold in court meant that her politeness was not a sign of weakness.

"Sister is joking, during the trial, please go easy on your younger brother!" Zhang Wei responded with a smile, following her lead.

However, inwardly, he felt amused by Zhang Hui's greeting.

Because he could hardly remember the last time someone had greeted him before the start of a trial.

In his past life, opponents hardly dared to speak to him like that in court.

Whether it was the prosecutor's ace or a well-known attorney from the same city, they only had deep wariness in their eyes when they saw him take the stand.

Even some of the more timid lawyers and prosecutors would tremble at the sight of him.

Seeing Zhang Hui's demeanor, Zhang Wei couldn't help but show a nostalgic expression, as if he was revisiting his first case and his first time standing in court.

Both sides took their seats, moving into the pre-trial preparation phase.

Zhang Wei communicated briefly with Luo Xiaobu and Xia Qianyue and handed Luo Xiaobu a note.

Zhang Hui, on the other hand, was also bending down and discussing with Jia Meili and Yuan Dong. From time to time, their glances towards Zhang Wei were full of hostility and even a hint of maliciousness.

Soon, the auditorium was filled with students who had come to watch, and the venue seating thousands started buzzing with noise.

When Chief Judge Geng Hongxia saw that the audience had mostly arrived, she looked at Dean Yang Qingquan at the front of the witness stands, and upon seeing him nod, she nodded back.

Thump, thump, thump!

She picked up the gavel beside her, struck it down, and commanded sternly, "Order in the court!"

Within seconds, the entire venue fell silent.

All eyes were focused on the judge's bench at the center of the auditorium.

Geng Hongxia took out the court rules she had prepared in advance and read from the script, "Today is our law school's moot court session, during the trial process, everyone needs to..."

There was a long list of rules, numerous, but normal.

The courtroom is a solemn place, where one cannot joke or fool around, even if this is a mock trial, the appropriate demeanor is still required.

After the announcement, the first step of the trial began, the selection of the jury.

As a preliminary step before the trial and also the very first step, the selection of the jurors is of utmost importance.

By now, the 23 members of the grand jury, as well as the necessary alternate jurors, were all ready.

The selection of the jury was carried out by the lawyers of both the plaintiff and the defendant, and the method of selection involved asking the jurors questions, to determine whether they could participate in the forthcoming trial.

It was at this moment that the professors from the law school on the witness stand began to explain to professors from other departments.

"Let me tell you, this lawsuit was originally a civil lawsuit, but this time our school, in order to achieve a higher degree of involvement, deliberately chose the complete 12-person jury model of criminal litigation," explained Dean Yang Qingquan to his peers from the journalism and finance departments.

"12 jurors, doesn't that make it even more uncertain?"

"True, but the reason we are doing this is to test the students. The minimum size for a civil lawsuit is six jurors, and the evidence gathering is relatively simpler, convincing just five of them would suffice for a verdict. That's too low for the participation of our students, so we deliberately increased the number," explained Dean Yang Qingquan.

While saying this, Yang Qingquan looked towards Zhang Hui, who was standing up.

"This is Zhang Hui, a graduate from our school last year, now interning at one of the Top Ten Law Firms, Yongjie Law Firm. As an assistant lawyer from the Top Ten Firms, I'm sure the questions she presents next will be very sophisticated."

"Dean Yang, I remember you have over ten years of experience as a public prosecutor. Can you share what kind of questions Zhang Hui will ask?"

"Right, with your experience, who has a better chance of winning this trial?"

Seeing the professors from other departments all looking over, Yang Qingquan let out a laugh, "This mock trial involves a male student from our school suing another female student. The male student is the one sitting at the plaintiff's bench, representing himself as his own lawyer. As for the content of the lawsuit, it is because the male student tutored the female student for two years, helping her earn enough credits to avoid failing, and now the male student is seeking compensation for his tutoring efforts from the female student."

"In my experience, this case is actually not easy to define because the tutoring may have been an initiative taken by the male student, considered as a gift, and if the female student's side has to defend, they will certainly align with this argument."

Stopping there, Yang Qingquan paused for a bit, then looked at Zhang Hui who was standing up, "If I'm not mistaken, Zhang Hui's goal is to screen out as many male jurors as possible. Compared to females, males are more often the giving party, while females are predominantly the beneficiaries. If she's going to question, the first question will definitely be biased towards females."

Following Yang Qingquan's gaze, several other departments' professors also looked towards the jury seats in the center.

There were a total of 20 jury members, evenly split between men and women, a deliberate choice by the Dean.

Zhang Hui walked up to the jurors, smiled slightly, and asked, "Please, who among you has ever received a gift?"

This very first question was just as Yang Qingquan predicted, making the professors from other departments nod in recognition of Dean Yang's seasoned experience.

Receiving gifts is more common among females, while the vast majority of males are on the giving end.

Out of the 20 jurors, the majority of the females raised their hands, with only a few males doing so.

Seeing this result, Zhang Hui smiled again.

A typical defense might at this point declare the selection results, but she would not waste this rare opportunity to question, one of the few chances to sway the jury.

She approached one of the female jurors, "May I ask this junior sister, you raised your hand, could you tell us who gives you gifts the most?"

"My boyfriend, he's always giving me gifts," the female juror said, nodding towards a certain male student in the witness stand, who smiled back in response.

Seeing the effective questioning, Zhang Hui continued to probe, "Isn't it only natural for a male to give gifts to a female?"

Many of the female jurors nodded unconsciously.

Zhang Hui then approached a male juror who hadn't raised his hand and asked, "You didn't raise your hand, is it because you've neither received nor given gifts?"

"Yes..." the male juror, feeling the attention from all around, lowered his head somewhat embarrassed.

Zhang Hui questioned a few more males, "So, is it the same for you?"

Caught off guard by the question, all the male jurors felt awkward and didn't know how to reply.

Zhang Hui didn't spare them any face and directly addressed the bench, "The defense dismisses jurors number 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. We appreciate their participation!"

These five were the males who hadn't raised their hands and were straight away dismissed by Zhang Hui.

The five stood up and quickly left the jury box.

Zhang Hui continued, "Please, if you crafted a gift with great care and planned to give it to someone you fancy, but the other party did not accept it, would you be angry?"

As she spoke, she turned her attention to another male juror.

The male juror looked around and, seeing Zhang Hui's gaze fixed on him without moving, he finally answered, "I might be angry, I guess!"

"What would you do then, how would you react after being angry?"

"I would, probably be upset, maybe call to ask..." the male juror trailed off.

"The defense dismisses juror number 13, we appreciate his participation!"

The male juror hadn't even finished answering the question before standing up and leaving the seat, resigned.

Zhang Hui's questioning concluded, dismissing five male jurors.

Next, it was the plaintiff Zhang Wei's turn to take the stage.

And in the hearing area, a group of professors once again gathered around Yang Qingquan.

"As expected of Dean Yang, you guessed so accurately!"

"Please tell us, if it were this boy, how would you question him?"

"Zhang Wei, ah, that would definitely mean keeping all the remaining boys!" Yang Qingquan laughed, then added, "The nature of this lawsuit is actually concerning labor disputes. If I were him, the first question would be about tutoring, and it would be best to link it to cram schools, so that jurors have a preconceived notion about the charges for supplementary lessons."

The surrounding professors nodded in agreement, finding it very sensible.

It was at this time that Zhang Wei approached the jury and began his questioning.

"Hello everyone, since you're all students from East University, I won't ask you much else. How do you feel about being admitted to East University, are you excited?"

Jury: "???"

Yang Qingquan: "???"

The professors: "???"

Leaving aside the astonishment of the professors in the hearing area, the jury was equally surprised by the question.

Zhang Wei looked towards a young female student and asked, "Which major are you in?"

"I'm from the School of Media and Journalism."

"Oh, Journalism, that's a key major at our East University. By the way, your family must have been thrilled when you got into East University, right?"

"Of course, my parents were so happy when I received the admission notice; they couldn't stop praising me!"

"That's great, you take pride in being at East University, and East University is proud to have you!"

Zhang Wei nodded, then addressed the judge's bench, "Your Honor, the prosecution accepts this juror!"

On the judge's bench, Geng Hongxia began taking notes, but like the others, she didn't understand the rationale behind Zhang Wei's questions.

She looked towards Yang Qingquan in the hearing area and saw him flash an embarrassed smile.

What's with this kid, not playing by the rules?

Isn't this a slap in the face in front of everyone?

With so many colleagues watching, where can I put my old face?

Zhang Wei was unaware of the mini drama unfolding in the hearing area; his questioning continued.

"Do you think lying is right?" This was Zhang Wei's second question.

He looked at one of the male students.

"It depends on the situation?" the male student replied sheepishly.

"Which situations?"

"Well, it depends, maybe the person lying has their own difficulties?"

"I see, that's very thoughtful, but what if they intend to deceive you subjectively?" Zhang Wei walked up to him and added, "Without any objective reason, just because they think you're easy to bully, and they want you to suffer losses, to make you feel like a simple-minded person, taken for a ride, how would that make you feel?"

"I would be angry, very angry!" the male student said indignantly, but at the same time, he cast a glance at a particular spot in the hearing area.

There was a girl there; obviously, the boy was concerned about someone, or perhaps this girl often deceived him.

This scene was precisely captured by Zhang Wei.

He looked back to the judge's bench, "The prosecution rejects juror number 17 and thanks him for his participation!"

Yang Qingquan could no longer sit still in the hearing area, as Zhang Wei had screened out another male student.

His face hurt.

Looking around, the professors from other departments now viewed him with a hint of suspicion, which was a clear sign of distrust.

"Does this Zhang Wei even know how to conduct a trial?" Dean Yang wondered to himself.

And Zhang Wei had moved on to another female student.

"Young lady, do you think groundless lying should be morally condemned?"

"Yes!"

Pleased with the girl's emphatic response, Zhang Wei was satisfied with her performance.

"The prosecution accepts this juror and thanks participant number 20 for their involvement."

Number 20 was another boy.

He was confused; he hadn't even been questioned, so how did he get eliminated by Zhang Wei?

In the hearing area.

Feeling the scorching stares from the professors of various departments, Yang Qingquan's face stiffened.