Too Bad I Take Things Seriously-Chapter 540 - 218 Pre-Prison Training!

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In the spectator gallery, Qin Mu sat in the center, with Zhang Qingyuan on his left and Li Weiguo on his right. He glanced sympathetically at Zhang Wei in the lawyer’s seat. Qin Mu’s own expression was somewhat peculiar.

In court, Liu Qiao’s defense lawyer was currently presenting his defense arguments, trying to get a reduced sentence for Liu Qiao. However, the defense points were all conventional and didn’t have much effect. And Zhang Wei, the expert in sentence reduction, suddenly found himself with no outlet for his skills, idly playing with his fingers, teetering on the edge of questioning his existence.

"Xiao Qin, why do I feel like something is off with Lawyer Zhang? It’s like all his defendants are causing trouble again," one of them said.

"This lawyer is really unlucky. Actually, his skill level is quite good; it’s just his luck is bad," another chimed in.

"As a defense lawyer, he hasn’t even used his full strength yet, and his clients are already...gone..."

"If it were me, I’d be driven mad by these defendants!"

Zhang Qingyuan and the others were whispering, leaning over from both sides of Qin Mu to mutter, offering deep sympathy toward Zhang Wei. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Having watched so many trials, they were now old acquaintances of Zhang Wei. Every time in court, Zhang Wei performed exceptionally well. Unfortunately, he had too many problematic defendants, and incidents cropped up frequently. Despite his efforts to reduce sentences, they often ended up being extended instead.

Take this case, for example. Qin Mu had initially estimated a reduction of one to two years in the prison term. But Liu Qiao pulled a surprise move by reporting others, which instead brought to light even more criminal evidence. The prison term was now likely to rocket to over ten years!

Time slowly passed.

「An hour later.」

The heated free debate session ended. Liu Qiao’s defense attorney completed the proceedings and clarified his standpoint. However, he was mercilessly rebutted by the prosecutor, achieving little success.

"The free debate session is now concluded, and the court will take a one-hour recess," the Judgment Chief announced firmly, striking his gavel. He then left the courtroom with all members of the collegial panel.

After the collegial panel members had left, the whole courtroom finally had the freedom to move around and speak freely.

Zhang Qingyuan and others turned to Qin Mu urgently. Excited, they asked, "Xiao Qin, how will Liu Qiao be sentenced?"

Judging by the proceedings, the prosecutor had charged Liu Qiao with numerous crimes; it was a litany of offenses. The illegal gains amounted to 160 million yuan—an exceptionally huge amount.

"Exactly! With such massive illicit gains, if not the death penalty, he should at least get life imprisonment, right?"

"It’s so corrupt! One hundred million! I couldn’t earn that much in eight lifetimes."

"His conscience must have been eaten by a dog."

"By the way, how many years is life imprisonment?"

「During the recess.」

Everyone let loose, discussing loudly and boisterously; they were not quiet about it at all. The nearby court officers wanted to intervene but dared not. These old men... they’re just too old, they thought. It’s recess, so let them make a bit of noise. If anything serious were to happen to them, we couldn’t bear that responsibility.

"It should still be twenty years," Qin Mu said seriously after a moment’s thought. "According to the offenses read out by the prosecutor, Liu Qiao committed two crimes: money laundering and bribery.

"Under the criminal law, money laundering refers to providing financial accounts to conceal or disguise the origin and nature of money; assisting in converting money into cash, financial notes, or securities; transferring funds via other settlement methods; assisting in transferring money abroad; or using other methods to conceal or disguise the origin and nature of the proceeds and benefits from crime.

"In terms of sentencing for money laundering, for general circumstances, the punishment is a prison term of no more than five years or detention, along with a fine ranging from 5% to 20% of the amount laundered. For severe circumstances, it’s five to ten years in prison, also with a fine from 5% to 20% of the amount laundered. The maximum punishment for money laundering is ten years.

"As for bribery, the sentencing, based on the amount involved, can range from over ten years of fixed-term imprisonment to life imprisonment. The maximum statutory punishment for bribery is life imprisonment. As the name suggests, life imprisonment refers to an indefinite period, entailing lifelong incarceration without a specific term.

"However, it’s clear that the prosecutor’s accusations did not demand life imprisonment for Liu Qiao. Like the death penalty, life imprisonment cannot be applied lightly except in special circumstances or for major incidents. Therefore, the bribery committed by Liu Qiao will likely result in a fixed-term imprisonment of over ten years.

"In criminal law, terms of imprisonment ’over ten years’ are not infinitely stackable. They actually refer to fixed-term imprisonment of over ten years up to a maximum of fifteen years. The cap is a fixed term of fifteen years. Above this, the alternatives are life imprisonment or the death penalty.

"The two crimes Liu Qiao committed, due to the exceptionally large sums of money involved, both reached their respective maximum statutory punishments: ten years for one and fifteen years for the other. According to the principle of concurrent punishment for multiple crimes, the cumulative sentence would be twenty-five years.

"However, under the general principles of criminal law, if the cumulative sentence does not exceed thirty-five years, the actual sentence imposed cannot exceed twenty years of fixed-term imprisonment. If the cumulative sentence exceeds thirty-five years, the actual sentence imposed cannot exceed twenty-five years. This means the absolute ceiling for Liu Qiao’s crimes is twenty years.

"People like Han Dongting, who were previously sentenced, often received terms around fifteen years. Even if their sentences exceeded fifteen years, it was only because, in addition to bribery, they had committed other crimes, leading to concurrent sentencing."

"Really, only twenty years? For making a hundred million, he’s sentenced to only twenty years?"