As Gu Nianzhi spoke, she took out her laptop to connect to the court projector and explained, “As we all know, Luo Xuexin died over ten years ago. Her death was previously determined as suicide, but the recent autopsy performed by the renowned Military Medical Examiner, Dr. Zhu revealed Mrs. Luo didn’t commit suicide, but was in fact murdered.”
“Objection. Luo Xuexin’s case occured over ten years ago has passed its statute of limitations. This case shouldn’t be reopened in the first place.” Lawyer Jin threw out his first objection of the day.
Gu Nianzhi raised her brows, it was obvious this Lawyer Jin looked down on a newbie like herself–he was using such a flawed objection to stifle her. Gu Nianzhi didn’t hesitate to retaliate and coldly stated, “You’re not living up to your name, Lawyer Jin. According to Huaxia laws, there is no statute of limitations on murder cases, so it will always be effective. If someone like you can end up the top lawyer of JD Law Offices, I think my future is bright.”
Lawyer Jin was furious and protested to the judge, “Objection! The opposing counsel is talking about things unrelated to the case!”
“You are the chief representative lawyer of the defendant, how is my doubts about your professional ability unrelated to the case?” Gu Nianzhi spat back, not losing momentum.
The judge was shocked by her words, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly as he nodded to her, “Minimize talking about anything not directly related.”
“Yes, You Honor.” Gu Nianzhi stopped her nonsense and picked up a laser pointer to aim at the large screen hanging on the side of the courtroom. The projector hummed to life and an image of a morgue appeared on the screen. The camera panned to a distant view of a body on the operating table. Gu Nianzhi used the laser pointer to mark on the image, “This is the body of Luo Xuexin, which was secretly preserved in the Military General Hospital’s underground cold storage for over ten years. She was the wife of former Senior Colonel Huo Guanyuan and the mother of Miss Huo Jialan.”
“…Our purpose is to prove that Luo Xuexin’s cause of death was not suicide, but murder. Our only piece of direct evidence is perhaps this body.” The small red dot from Gu Nianzhi’s laser pointer circled the image of Luo Xuexin’s body, “This piece of evidence may appear trivial, but is actually the most powerful proof. There is nothing this body can’t tell us.”
The judge nodded as he watched the large screen intently, “…What were your findings?”
“…The most crucial evidence is right here.” Gu Nianzhi said as she tapped on the laptop twice to open a photo. This time, it was a clearer image of Luo Xue Xin’s body. She laid on the cadaver dissection table with her eyes closed, a white shroud covering her from the collarbone down and exposing her shoulders. Face so pale it appears bluish, there were no signs of decay and a glaring incision on her neck. Gu Nianzhi pointed to the incision and said, “This is where Medical Examiner Zhu made the incision to allow him to see all the way from her throat to inside the stomach.”
Everyone in the courtroom watched the screen without blinking, they were nervous because there had to have been a major discovery if Gu Nianzhi chose to display this photo. Sure enough, Gu Nianzhi showed them another photo, “As we can see, this is a cross section of the deceased’s laryngeal muscles. It has convulsed to the point where the throat was so contorted it almost couldn’t swallow pills. …I remember Luo Xuexin’s autopsy report stated she committed suicide by taking sleeping pills. If her laryngeal muscles had convulsed to this extent, how did she swallow the sleeping pills?” Gu Nianzhi seized the key point and revealed the first questionable point.
“This is the most questionable point. Under such a convulsed state, the deceased wouldn’t have been able to swallow the pills on her own without spitting it all back out, unless there was an external force pushing them into her throat. ” As the expert witness, Medical Examiner Zhu stated plainly as he announced that the possibility of the case being a murder, far exceeded the likelihood of it being a suicide.
It was because of this important evidence that the Imperial Intermediate Court announced the hearing. Once the Bai’s were informed, they immediately requested the court to classify the proceedings on grounds of potential leakage. Huo Shaoheng had agreed to this as well. So when the trials began, only the prosecution, defense and both families would be present at the hearings. No media or public was allowed to attend. Huo Shaoheng only requested the final conclusion of the trial be publicized, and the court had agreed.
Gu Nianzhi was at home to about everything that had transpired, so she was even more impressed by Huo Shaoheng. It had been less than a month’s time from New Year’s Day to now, and he had not only completed all his own work, dealt with all the trouble caused by Dou Qingyan, and also fit Bai Jinyi’s case into his agenda. From choosing the expert witnesses to preparing evidence, not a thing had been missed. Gu Nianzhi looked at Huo Shaoheng’s impassive face and appeared victorious as she sat down. Voices in discussion immediately sounded inside the courtroom.
Suddenly, Bai Jinyi’s defense lawyer, Lawyer Jin asked again, “Miss Gu, I have one question.”
“Please say it.”
“May I ask how you can prove that the laryngeal muscle convulsion in the deceased was caused before death, and not after death?”
Gu Nianzhi faltered, this was truly a flaw in their logic. When a person dies, their muscles can indeed convulse due to various reasons. However Medical examiner Zhu immediately concluded that it was caused after death when he completed the autopsy, therefore it wasn’t possible that the deceased committed suicide by swallowing sleeping pills. The defendant’s lawyer keenly bringing up this point and revealing their faulty logic meant that he did have some skills after all. If Gu Nianzhi and her team couldn’t provide a reasonable explanation, then the court would refute Medical Examiner Zhu’s autopsy results on grounds of presumption of innocence. That meant it couldn’t have been murder.
The courtroom suddenly plunged into silence, the normally quiet central air conditioner seemed to be amplified. Gu Nianzhi could just hear an incessant buzzing in her ears, like tens of thousand of little honeybees were flying at the same time. She frowned at her laptop monitor. She used a dynamic screensaver, where a rare Cymbidium bloomed. A tiny seven-spot ladybug slowly crawled up the leaves and stopped at the downward sloping petals, where it seemed to lose balance and suddenly fall along the curve of the petal and deep inside the flower. Gu Nianzhi watched the image and a hazy idea formed in her mind. The ladybug fell inside the orchid, but who can prove how it went inside? Did it fall, or was it forced inside? …Without a witness, perhaps only the ladybug itself could testify. Gu Nianzhi pondered it, then her eyes lit up as she turned around to ask, “Medical Examiner Zhu, may I ask if you can prove if the sleeping pills entered the deceased’s stomach before the laryngeal muscles convulsed, or after?” If the pills had entered the deceased’s stomach before the laryngeal muscles convulsed, then it was entirely possible that she had swallowed the sleeping pills to commit suicide and Medical Examiner Zhu’s previous conclusion would be overturned by the defending party. Only by proving that the pills had entered the stomach after the laryngeal muscles convulsed, can the death be attributed to murder and not suicide.
Medical Examiner Zhu thought about it for a moment, then took the laser pointer from Gu Nianzhi’s hand to point at the photo. He took his time explaining, “If we carefully look at the cross section of the laryngeal muscles, we can see that there are fairly serious abrasions. These were caused when the sleeping pills being forced down the throat. If the laryngeal muscles had been in a normal state, swallowing this amount of sleeping pills would not cause such abrasions.”
Gu Nianzhi secretly sighed in relief, she took the laser pointer back from Medical Examiner Zhu and nodded, “Thank you Medical Examiner Zhu for your professional explanation.” She then turned to look the at chief representing defense lawyer, Lawyer Jin, “Does this answer satisfy you?”
Lawyer Jin smiled, “We will verify the photos once again. Also, we request a third party and neutral medical examiner to perform another autopsy on Luo Xuexin’s body.”
“Are you doubting Medical Examiner Zhu’s professionalism?” Gu Nianzhi reacted immediately, and caused Medical Examiner Zhu to shoot Lawyer Jin a furious glare.
“We are not doubting Medical Examiner Zhu. But he belongs to the military, so it’s reasonable that we request a impartial and independent party to perform an autopsy.”