Sha Qing

Chapter 104: A Storm In The Court (2)

Leo arrived somewhat late at the courthouse the next day. He quietly pushed the door then walked to the back audience and sat beside Rob. From there, over the shoulders of the crowd in front, he could clearly see the figure in the navy blue suit at the defendant's table.

As if sensing the gaze directed at him, Sha Qing snapped his head towards Leo and gave him a brief look before turning back in the blink of an eye.

Leo wasn't able to perceive Sha Qing's expression clearly, but he did see that all the bandages on the latter's body had been removed. He knew that given how much he beat him back then, there's no way that the injuries he gave him would heal in such a short amount of time.

He could have gone to court with a body full of bandage to induce the jury's pity and charge the authority with abuse of power in the process, so why didn't he do it? Leo thought with indifference.

The atmosphere inside the venue was solemn. The blazing eyes of the defense attorney and the prosecutor occasionally met, and it was quite clear that they had already begun their confrontation unceremoniously.

Rob leaned to Leo's ear and explained in a low voice, "The defendant has just admitted that he is Sha Qing and that he had killed twelve people. At present, the prosecution's argument is premeditated murder while the defense's argument is justifiable homicide."

Channing got up and asked to show the judge and jury Exhibit A-a large stack of photos of horrifying and gruesome dead bodies, all of which were the 'proud works' of those serial killers.

"Objection, Your Honor. Those are information from other cases that has nothing to do with this trial." Prosecutor Vanna immediately spoke up.

"This is an important exhibit in understanding the defendant's motive, therefore it's very relevant to this case." Channing argued.

Judge Linden overruled the prosecution's objection, and the photos were sent to the jury. Upon looking, the twelve jurors got overwhelmed with shock, outrage, sadness, and sympathy.

Channing stood before the jury and began to speak passionately about the cruelty, sociopathy, and dehumanization of these serial killers, then summoned a relative of one of the victims as a witness and asked the other party how they felt about the loss of their loved one.

Vanna objected again, "The defense counsel is trying to influence the jury's judgment through their personal feelings."

This time, her objection was sustained, and the old Black judge with white hair and serious face warned the defense lawyer, "No playing the emotion card."

Channing expressed acknowledgement. The witness returned to the audience, but the jury's attitude was already vaguely skewed.

Seeing the situation, Vanna seized the moment and made an issue about Sha Qing's methods, stating that it was no different from those serial killers, that he was as equally bloody, cruel and inhumane as them.

That was obviously true, and it left Channing almost speechless. He didn't directly respond to the accusations and circumvented the topic, claiming that the defendant was a devout Christian, deeply influenced by one of the Old Testament's commandments, the An Eye for an Eye. He asserted that to the defendant, those methods of actions were like a religious commandment to him, not his original intention.

This argument was barely tenable, also somewhat far-fetched and lacks convincing power.

While Rob was quite interested in the verbal sparring between the two sides, Leo was lost in thought, as if his mind had been left in another dimension. It was only when the prosecutor called him to step up into the witness stand that he managed to wake up from his dream-like state.