Lawyer's character

"Okay, Director Hua. Director Wan and Professor Shang, welcome these two seniors to this seminar. We also welcome Lawyer Fang from Director Wan's team to attend the seminar. I won't say much, the seminar will now officially begin.

Recently, we took on a criminal case involving the crime of releasing dangerous substances. This case was very controversial within our team, so I would like to share it with you. I would also like to hear your opinions and ask all lawyers and experts to give you some advice.

Now let me introduce the basic situation of the case, please look at the big screen..." The lights in the conference room dimmed immediately, and Lawyer Zhao held a laser pointer and began to introduce the case.

The criminal case that Lawyer Zhao used to study occurred in a village below a certain county in this city, not too far from Fang Yi's hometown.

The specific facts of the case are as follows. The defendant Zhou Yue'e's family and the victim Wang Xiuqin's family are neighbors separated by a wall. Zhou Yue'e is in her forties and has a character that makes Little Pepper angry to death. Wang Xiuqin was in her fifties and was a good boss. Both of them were notoriously difficult to deal with in the village. Even the director of the village committee had to go around them when meeting them.

As the saying goes, distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors, but these two families are obvious exceptions. The two families can't stand each other's eyes, and they will have a verbal spat every once in a while.

At the beginning of last year, Wang Xiuqin's family was repairing the front door. Zhou Yue'e accused Wang Xiuqin's front door steps of occupying the road, which made his tractor unable to enter the door. Zhou Yue'e and Wang Xiuqin stood on the street and cursed all day long. The villagers who came to help with the work could only shutdown. Later, the two families quarreled with the village committee, and Wang Xiuqin's family finally demolished a step before settling the matter.

Last summer, it rained heavily and often. The rainwater in Zhou Yue'e's yard poured into Wang Xiuqin's house. The two of them stood in the yard holding umbrellas and cursed each other for a day. The sky cleared up, but they were still angry.

In this way, the two families quarrel over big things and quarrel over small things, and they talk all year round. Zhou Yue'e is not as fancy as Wang Xiuqin. Over the years, the two have quarreled with each other, but Wang Xiuqin has never lost. As the saying goes, it doesn't take a day to freeze three feet. Over the years, Zhou Yue'e hates Wang Xiuqin more and more deeply, and decides to find an opportunity to take revenge on Wang Xiuqin. .

When autumn came, Zhou Yuee saw her child holding a disposable syringe, sucking water and playing with it. She rolled her eyes and snatched the syringe away and put it away.

Later, when no one was at home, she found a bottle of methamidophos pesticide from the side room where the sundries were stored, used a syringe to withdraw more than half of the bottle of methamidophos pesticide, and then put the syringe in her pocket and went out.

There is a vegetable garden next to Wang Xiuqin's yard, which is about two-thirds of a land. A short fence is built around the vegetable garden with thorns from the mountain. This is mainly to prevent the chickens and ducks in the village from running in and pecking the vegetables in the garden. There is a small door on the side, which is not locked. Wang Xiuqin's family usually enters and exits the vegetable garden through the small door to pick vegetables.

In fact, every family in the village has a vegetable garden, and they tell each other whether they want to go to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables without saying hello. Wang Xiuqin's vegetable garden is no exception. There are always neighbors around. Wang Xiuqin doesn't say anything when he sees it. Anyway, the vegetable garden is big and grows so many vegetables that Wang Xiuqin's family can't even eat it.

Zhou Yuee walked to the door of Wang Xiuqin's house with a syringe in her pocket. When she saw General Tie holding the door, she felt relieved and went straight to Wang Xiuqin's vegetable garden. After sneaking into the vegetable garden, she saw a loofah stand. Zhou Yue'e took out a syringe, loaded it with a needle, and injected the pesticide into the more than ten loofahs hanging from the loofah stand.

In the evening of the next day, Wang Xiuqin went to the vegetable garden to pick some loofahs and some leafy vegetables, fried them and ate them with her granddaughter in the evening. Her husband went to help in the village and did not eat at home that night. As a result, Wang Xiuqin and her granddaughter developed poisoning symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea that night. .

Upon seeing this, Wang Xiuqin's husband hurriedly found a car to take the two to the hospital. Wang Xiuqin's granddaughter escaped after being rescued. After Wang Xiuqin was sent to the hospital for rescue, she suffered from diabetic hyperosmolar coma and hypokalemia caused by methamidophos pesticide poisoning. The county hospital improperly diagnosed this and only treated her with diabetes. In the end, Wang Xiuqin died in the early morning of the next day due to ineffective rescue efforts.

After Wang Xiuqin's death, her family held a funeral, cooking in a large pot under the loofah stand in the vegetable garden, and entertaining relatives and friends who came to express their condolences. As a result, the villagers who came to help accidentally discovered that some of the unpicked loofahs had small black spots, so they removed them. Wang Xiuqin's son was informed of the incident. After seeing it, everyone suspected poisoning and reported the case to the public security organ.

After the public security organs removed the loofah, tests found that there was residue of the highly toxic pesticide methamidophos in the loofah. Investigators then searched the village and discovered that Zhou Yuee was the most likely suspect, and later called her to the police station for questioning.

Zhou Yue'e thought that her behavior had been discovered, and when she was questioned by the police, she changed her expression, and soon she was all involved.

The case has been transferred to the Intermediate Court and is awaiting trial. Zhou Yuee's family came to Wanhua United Law Firm to entrust the case.

“The above is the basic situation of the case. Currently, our internal disputes mainly include the following two points:

1. Is there a criminal law causal relationship between the behavior of the defendant Zhou Yue'e and the death of the victim Wang Xiuqin?

2. How should the defendant Zhou Yue'e's injection of pesticides into the loofahs grown in the victim's vegetable garden be characterized? "Lawyer Zhao said.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Lawyer Zhao continued. "Let me first put aside my thoughts. I think the death of the victim Wang Xiuqin cannot be entirely attributed to the defendant Zhou Yuee. The reasons are as follows:

The defendant Zhou Yue'e used a disposable syringe to inject pesticides into several loofahs, which had limited toxicity. The victim Wang Xiuqin was poisoned by eating pesticide-containing loofahs, which in turn induced her own diabetes, causing hyperosmolar coma and hypokalemia syndrome.

During the emergency treatment process, the county hospital made an inaccurate diagnosis, which delayed the best opportunity for treatment. Therefore, I believe that there is no causal relationship under criminal law between the defendant’s poisoning behavior and the victim’s death. The county hospital should bear primary responsibility for the death. "

After Lawyer Zhao finished speaking, a tall male lawyer wearing glasses stood up, took the microphone and said: "I am lawyer Xing Bin from the Hua Lawyers Team. I just listened to Lawyer Zhao's speech and I would like to express my thoughts.

The victim Wang Xiuqin suffered from hypertonic coma and hypokalemia due to pesticide poisoning. I believe that without the defendant’s poisoning, the death of the victim Wang Xiuqin would not have occurred.

Therefore, there is a causal relationship in criminal law between the defendant's poisoning behavior and the victim's death. "

Then several more lawyers spoke and elaborated on their opinions.

Fang Yi listened to everyone's speeches and understood in his heart that whether there was a causal relationship under criminal law between the defendant's behavior and the victim's death would have a significant impact on the defendant's sentencing, and could even be said to determine the defendant's life or death. This is why Attorney Zhao raised this issue and discussed it first.

If there is a causal relationship under criminal law between the defendant's behavior and the victim's death, the defendant shall bear criminal responsibility for the victim's death. One act of the defendant violated two crimes, namely the crime of throwing dangerous substances (the result was aggravated). According to the imaginary combination of the crime of committing a crime) and the crime of intentional homicide (completed), in accordance with the principle of "discriminating from the first felony", the defendant should be punished for the crime of throwing dangerous substances and be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of more than ten years, life imprisonment, or death. Within the limit, the penalty shall apply. There is a high probability that he will be sentenced to death!

On the contrary, if there is no criminal causal relationship between the defendant's behavior and the victim's death, it means that the defendant does not need to bear criminal responsibility for the victim's death. The defendant's behavior only violated the imaginary concurrence of the crime of placing dangerous substances and the crime of intentional homicide (attempted). According to the principle of "disconnecting from one felony", the defendant may be punished with the crime of intentional homicide (attempted). The provisions of the General Principles of the Criminal Law that "an attempted offender may be given a lighter or reduced punishment compared to an accomplished offender" shall be applied at the same time. No fear of life!

While Fang Yi was thinking, Hua Liancheng tilted his head and saw Wan Kefa. He wanted to let Wan Kefa express his opinion, but he was afraid that the fat old man would act like a monster, so he focused his attention on the man next to the fat old man. On Fang Yi's body.

"That... new lawyer, please express your opinion. Now that you are here, don't be afraid of making mistakes. We are still very open and willing to hear more different voices." Hua Liancheng said with a smile.

Although Hua Liancheng said it politely, there was a sense of arrogance in his words. Of course, as the deputy director of Wanhua United Law Firm, he had the confidence to say this.

Wan Kefa smiled confidently, looked at Fang Yi and said, "Lawyer Fang, tell me your opinion."

Fang Yi was startled, then came to his senses and said: "Thank you! Thank you, Lawyer Hua. Then I will make a fool of myself. I think there are two main reasons why the lawyers here are divided in this case:

1. The victim himself suffered from diabetes. It was precisely because of this disease that he induced hyperosmolar coma and hypokalemia after eating poisonous loofah.

2. The victim was sent to the hospital for treatment after being poisoned. During the treatment process, the county hospital failed to correctly diagnose the true cause of the disease and only treated him with diabetes, resulting in the death of the defendant.

Whether the above two points can block the causal relationship between the defendant's poisoning behavior and the victim's death is the key to this case. I wonder if everyone agrees with me? "

When talking about professional issues, Fang Yi has both practical experience and theoretical foundation, so he is not afraid at all.

After a moment, Professor Shang nodded and said: "I personally think these two points raised by Lawyer Fang are very important. They are also the main reason why many lawyers are confused. If these two issues are discussed clearly, most of the problems in this case will basically be solved. ”

"Yes, I agree with Lawyer Fang and Professor Shang. Lawyer Fang, please continue." Lawyer Zhao said.

Although the bosses of the two teams are at odds with each other when they meet, the lawyers of the two teams are still very harmonious. No one cares what the two old naughty boys say. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the case, not to make people angry!

"Okay, I'll continue. Let's talk about the first question first.

In my opinion, the fact that the victim suffered from diabetes cannot be a reason to hinder the criminal law causal relationship between the defendant's poisoning behavior and the victim's death.

Let me give you an example, which may be more convincing. For example, we often see cases like this: A caused minor injuries to B, and B died due to bleeding. B was later found to be a hemophiliac. Does this example look familiar to you? !

If the hospital misdiagnosis in this case is not considered, this case is very similar to the above case. Regarding the above cases, judicial practice generally believes that B’s special constitution does not affect the establishment of the causal relationship between A’s minor injury and B’s death.

Therefore, I believe that the causal link between the defendant's poisoning behavior and the victim's death is not blocked because the victim suffered from diabetes. "

After finishing speaking, Fang Yi looked at everyone present.

"Well, I think it makes sense. What kind of results a behavior can cause depends on the specific conditions at the time of the behavior. There is no fixed pattern." Professor Shang nodded.

"Well, I think what Lawyer Fang said makes sense. Hemophilia cases have appeared in many criminal law books. I believe everyone is aware of this case." Lawyer Xing said.

"Lawyer Fang, please continue." Although Lawyer Zhao did not completely agree, he could not find any more reasons to refute Fang Yi and could only let him continue.

"Okay, the county hospital made a misdiagnosis in the process of rescuing the victim. This is another intervening factor. I think this intervening factor cannot cut off the causal relationship between the defendant's poisoning behavior and the victim's death.

Theoretically, if other factors are involved in the development of a causal relationship, the possibility of the intervening factors causing the result should be examined to determine whether there is a causal relationship between the behavior and the result.

If the intervening factors have a small effect on the outcome and the actor's behavior itself has a high probability of causing the outcome, then there is a criminal law causal relationship between the actor's behavior and the outcome.

Back to this case, 1. The victim’s diabetic hyperosmolar coma and hypokalemia caused by the defendant’s poisoning were caused by some external inducement. Just now, lawyer Zhao also mentioned that this kind of symptom is often difficult to diagnose correctly. . Of course, I don’t understand medicine. I can ask the hospital for confirmation on how difficult this disease is to diagnose.

If the disease is really difficult to diagnose, it may be difficult to avoid misdiagnosis in the process of rescuing the victim.

2. In this case, the defendant injected a total of half a syringe of methamidophos pesticide in a small dose, and injected it into several loofahs respectively. The victim did not show very strong symptoms of poisoning after eating poisonous loofah, which also made it more difficult for the hospital to accurately diagnose the cause of the disease.

3. After the victim was poisoned, it was the local county hospital that rescued him. I'm afraid everyone has a basic understanding of the medical conditions and medical standards of local county hospitals. When encountering the special illness in this case, I'm afraid everyone can guess what the chance of being able to correctly diagnose it is.

To sum up, I believe that the intervening factor of hospital diagnosis and treatment errors has very little impact on the causal relationship in this case. The defendant's poisoning behavior was the direct factor leading to the victim's death.

The above are some of my immature opinions. I hope they can be of some help to Lawyer Zhao in handling the case. After all, I don’t know much about the case, so please forgive me if I am incomplete or wrong. "Fang Yi finished speaking and looked at everyone.

Lawyer Zhao sat in front, nodding his head without saying a word. According to Fang Yi, everything he had said to the client before would be overturned, which he could not accept.

Some people opposed Fang Yi's point of view, but of course there were also people who supported it. Wan Kefa nodded with satisfaction and said nothing, but it could be seen from his expression that he supported Fang Yi.