What's wrong with this lawyer?!

Chapter 290: Chapter 125: Come, come, come, let me have a preview_5

The Judgment Chief arrived with the Judge, and all stood up.

This gesture of standing up to greet the judicial officers is written in the "Court Rules," representing the dignity of the law and the solemnity of the courtroom.

The procedure began as usual, with the prosecution making the accusation, reading the indictment.

Next was the defendant's statement. Li Huaiqing stuttered, "Regarding the accused facts, I have no objection, but I dispute the charge. I was driving normally at the time, without any acceleration or deceleration."

"The victim jumped out of the car on his own; it was an accident..."

Then came the statement of the victim, except that the victim Fang Pinghui was unable to appear in court.

In Fang Pinghui's statement, he said he had forgotten everything and only learned about the accident after waking up.

After these procedures, the prosecution began questioning the defendant, and Li Huaiqing became even more nervous.

Although Lawyer Tang had coached him on how to respond, it was impossible to avoid the feeling of nervousness, especially since he hadn't even completed junior high school.

The previous questions were procedural, such as the identity of the defendant and the time of the incident.

Suddenly, the key question came. Fu Qiuhua stared at Li Huaiqing with a serious face, "Li Huaiqing, on the day of the incident, the victim repeatedly stated in the back that if you didn't stop the car, he would jump out. Did you know that?"

Li Huaiqing hurriedly said, "I knew it."

"Okay, then why didn't you stop at the time?"

Li Huaiqing replied, "The first time I heard him say he would jump out if I didn't stop, I turned back and saw that the victim had opened the car door, but was pulled back by a companion. So I locked the doors."

"I didn't know about him jumping out later."

"Okay, you didn't know, huh? Let me ask you another question, were you aware that the car windows were open at the time?"

"They were open; I knew that."

One question followed another. Old Tang did not interject, as these had all been asked before and were the same as the record.

If they differed from the record, that would be problematic. It might mean a lighter sentence if it implied a change of testimony.

The prosecutor questioned the defendant and the witness, who was a friend of Fang Pinghui's, surnamed Zhang.

However, Zhang's statement was slightly different from Li Huaiqing's.

"We had drunk two bottles of liquor that night and took a cab planning to go back to the place he (Fang Pinghui) rented. The driver was unclear about the route, and I was unfamiliar with Dongfang City. When we arrived, the fare was over fifty yuan. He said it was too expensive, normally it's just around ten yuan."

"We started arguing about it there, got out of the car and continued arguing. I was trying to mediate by his side; at that time, the driver called the police claiming we were hijacking the ride. Then he said he would let the driver take us across the street; it wasn't a matter of not paying."

"The driver then offered to take us back to where we came from, for free..."

Old Tang was looking at the dossier in his hand, knowing of course, the inconsistency lay in the fact that Zhang said he had been continuously knocking on the taxi's protective screen before Fang Pinghui jumped out.

Moreover, Fang Pinghui kept saying to stop the car, from the first unsuccessful attempt to jump to the second when he actually did, the distance was calculated to be one hundred and sixty meters.

According to evidence provided by the traffic police department, the car was traveling at 60 kilometers per hour at the time.

After the questioning of the witness was finished, evidence was then presented.

As for the evidence, Old Tang didn't have much to say; after all, there was a lack of evidence, and it basically wouldn't pass on the prosecutor's side.

Furthermore, there was evidence that was favorable to their side.

For instance, the surveillance footage provided by the traffic police department showed the location where the victim jumped out was in the middle lane in front of a traffic light, with solid lines on both sides.

That is to say, it was impossible to stop at the place where he jumped out.

Zhang had walked back a bit after getting out of the car and then discovered Fang Pinghui lying on the ground with a lot of blood, and called the police.

So, the core issue is whether Li Huaiqing was at fault.

Lawyer Tang spoke up, "I believe the defendant Li Huaiqing did not subjectively have the fault of causing serious injury to the victim Fang Pinghui."

"The whole incident was triggered by Fang Pinghui's refusal to pay the fare, and moreover, Fang Pinghui's refusal to pay and jumping out of the car despite his companion's advice were self-inflicted."

"Also, the evidence from the prosecution cannot prove that Li Huaiqing was subjectively negligent or overly confident."

Fu Qiuhua spoke up, "I object to the counsel's opinion. In this case, the victim had already mentioned several times before jumping that he would jump out if the car didn't stop."

"Furthermore, the victim was already drunk at the time; such unusual behavior under the influence of alcohol should have been foreseeable by Li Huaiqing, a driver; the possibility of jumping out was there."

"So subjectively, he does have the fault of negligence or overconfidence."

Old Tang immediately said, "The defendant Li Huaiqing, as a taxi driver, has the duty to drive safely, but stopping the car at the passenger's request is not a legal obligation."

"Moreover, what constitutes the obligation of safe driving? Is it to pay attention to whether a drunk passenger jumps out of the car in the back? No, I don't think so."

"So, as a taxi driver, Li Huaiqing should always be attentive to the surrounding driving environment and the flow of traffic. That is his primary obligation for safe driving!"

"In such a situation, it's impossible and not his duty to constantly watch the passengers in the back, nor to always monitor the passengers in the back seat."

A driver's most pressing responsibility is to drive safely, not to watch for passengers jumping out of the car in the back, obviously the former is more important.

"Based on normal logic of an average person, with the back door already locked and a companion present, it's impossible to foresee someone would jump out of a window."