Chapter 155 - 102: Sentencing! Court Adjourned

I ask the court to render its judgment.

The moment he finished speaking.

Everyone in the courtroom held their breath.

Up to this point, the trial had been a heated exchange. The defense had put forth numerous shameless arguments, while the prosecution had launched two courtroom ambushes that had overwhelmed everyone involved.

Now, all cards were on the table. With no moves left to make, the trial had moved past the final stages of conviction and was now entering the sentencing phase.

At the defendant’s table.

Zhang Wei’s lips were pale, his heart a pit of despair. He closed his eyes.

At this sight.

In the defendant’s dock, Liu Jingqi’s hands trembled as panic flooded her heart.

"Lawyer Zhang... Lawyer Zhang, say something..."

Her voice trembled slightly as she tried to prompt Zhang Wei, to get him to continue defending her.

She was arrogant, a bad seed.

But that didn’t mean she was stupid!

The fact that she had arranged for a human trafficker to sell her at such a young age proved it. She wasn’t just not stupid—she was incredibly cunning!!!

Although she couldn’t understand the legal arguments, she could sense...

...that things were not going her way!

"Say something! I gave you two hundred thousand!"

Liu Jingqi’s words were sharp. Although her parents had given the money, she claimed she had.

Zhang Wei sighed.

He closed his eyes and said nothing more. The last shred of his fighting spirit was gone. Sun Bing and the other lawyers also shook their heads in silence.

At this sight.

Liu Jingqi fell into a complete panic.

"I plead guilty! I plead guilty! I was wrong... I know I was wrong!"

"Please, give me a chance! I’m begging you, give me a chance! I’m only 16... I’m only 19! I’m still so young... I don’t want to spend my whole life in prison, and I don’t want to die..."

In the defendant’s dock.

Liu Jingqi suddenly covered her face with her hands and sobbed, tears and snot streaming through her fingers. Her wails filled the courtroom.

"I was wrong... I really know I was wrong now..."

"I won’t do it again! I’ll turn over a new leaf, I promise! I’ll be a good person! Please, I’m begging you..."

On the judge’s bench.

The three judges listened to her cries, their brows furrowing slightly in thought.

But Xu De was iron-willed, completely unmoved. He glanced at the bench and suddenly spoke in a cold voice:

"Your Honor, the prosecution requests that the victim’s family be allowed to appear in court for half an hour."

"Let the victim’s family be the ones to judge whether the defendant’s remorse is genuine!"

’The victim’s family will decide if she’s remorseful?’

This...

On the bench, the three judges exchanged thoughtful glances upon hearing this.

It wasn’t entirely unheard of.

For example.

The "letter of forgiveness" and the "settlement agreement" were both forms of "feedback" from the family or the victim themself, based on the defendant’s attitude.

And the victim’s family did indeed have the right to take such actions regarding the defendant.

The three conferred briefly, then turned to Xu De and nodded their approval.

"Very well."

"Counselor, where is your client at present?"

Xu De replied, "He is already at the courthouse, waiting in the anteroom for the verdict."

Chief Judge Zhang Bingxin said, "Bailiff, bring the victim’s family member into the courtroom."

As soon as he finished speaking,

the bailiff headed out of the courtroom.

A short while later, a faint sound of footsteps came from the main entrance. Just as everyone looked up, the main doors swung open.

A gloomy, silent boy stood in the doorway, slowly making his way inside.

This was Yang Huan, fourteen years old, the sole surviving family member of the case’s victims.

He remained silent as he was led to the plaintiff’s area. He did not sit, but simply stood there.

Everyone present sized up Yang Huan, each with their own thoughts.

"Your Honor, the prosecution requests ten minutes."

"Within these ten minutes, if the defendant, Liu Jingqi, shows a sincere attitude of remorse and can move my client..."

Xu De smiled faintly, his gaze slowly shifting from Zhang Bingxin until it finally... landed on Liu Jingqi.

"...then my client is willing to sign a ’letter of forgiveness’!"

A letter of forgiveness!?

Those three words fell, and everyone in the courtroom’s eyes went wide.

Even at the defense table, Lawyer Zhang Wei snapped his eyes open at those words, sitting bolt upright and staring intently at Yang Huan.

The power of a letter of forgiveness was a strange thing—not quite big, but not small either.

It couldn’t determine whether a defendant would be convicted, but it could lead to a reduced sentence.

But... that very reduction in sentence could, in some cases, spare the life of someone who would otherwise have been sentenced to death!

And as it happened,

the No. 18 Middle School case fit this description perfectly!

The two lives lost in the case were from the same family. As long as Yang Huan nodded and agreed to sign, it was almost certain that Liu Jingqi would not be sentenced to immediate execution. It would most likely be a suspended death sentence, and a suspended death sentence... a suspended death sentence was practically no different from a fixed-term imprisonment!

This was precisely why Zhang Wei had been trying to secure a letter of forgiveness from the very beginning.

So...

Zhang Wei shifted his gaze to the defendant, Liu Jingqi, his heart beginning to pound with tension.

’The final outcome of this case...’

’...might very well be decided in the next ten minutes!’

"Approved."

From the bench, Zhang Bingxin nodded.

"Defendant, in the next ten minutes, you may confess, repent, and demonstrate your sincere remorse to the victim’s family."

"Clerk, begin the timer now."

At his words,

everyone’s heart was in their throat.

At the prosecution table, sweat beaded on Huang Shi’s palms, and his breathing grew ragged.

In the defendant’s dock.

GULP...

In a daze, Liu Jingqi swallowed hard. Her vacant eyes shifted to the plaintiff’s area, where a 14-year-old boy with a chillingly indifferent expression and a childish face stood.

’She knew her life was now entirely in the hands of this 14-year-old boy.’

’At this thought,’

A look of profound emotion crossed Liu Jingqi’s face as hot tears streamed from her eyes. She raised her hands to cover her face, but large, bead-like tears still flowed through the gaps between her fingers.